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39-641: The Chilean flamingo ( Phoenicopterus chilensis ) is a species of large flamingo at a height of 110–130 cm (43–51 in) closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo , with which it was sometimes considered conspecific . The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. It breeds in South America from Ecuador and Peru to Chile and Argentina and east to Brazil ; it has been introduced into Germany . Like all flamingos, it lays

78-581: A group stand together and display to each other by stretching their necks upwards, then uttering calls while head-flagging, and then flapping their wings. The displays do not seem directed towards an individual, but occur randomly. These displays stimulate "synchronous nesting" (see below) and help pair up those birds that do not already have mates. Flamingos form strong pair bonds , although in larger colonies, flamingos sometimes change mates, presumably because more mates are available to choose. Flamingo pairs establish and defend nesting territories. They locate

117-502: A one-legged posture. While walking, a flamingo's legs may appear to bend backwards. This appearance is due to the middle joint on their legs being their ankle, not their knee. Flamingos also have webbed feet that aid with swimming and they may stamp their feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom. Flamingos are capable flyers, and flamingos in captivity often require wing clipping to prevent escape. A pair of African flamingos which had not yet had their wings clipped escaped from

156-438: A relation with grebes , while morphological evidence also strongly supports a relationship between flamingos and grebes. They hold at least 11 morphological traits in common, which are not found in other birds. Many of these characteristics have been previously identified on flamingos, but not on grebes. The fossil palaelodids can be considered evolutionarily, and ecologically, intermediate between flamingos and grebes. For

195-421: A result of a 2014 publication, the family was reclassified into two genera. In 2020, the family had three recognized genera, according to HBW . Prehistoric species of flamingo: Flamingos usually stand on one leg with the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behaviour is not fully understood. One theory is that standing on one leg allows the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend

234-479: A significant amount of time wading in cold water. However, the behaviour also takes place in warm water and is also observed in birds that do not typically stand in water. An alternative theory is that standing on one leg reduces the energy expenditure for producing muscular effort to stand and balance on one leg. A study on cadavers showed that the one-legged pose could be held without any muscle activity, while living flamingos demonstrate substantially less body sway in

273-472: A single chalky-white egg on a mud mound. These flamingos are mainly restricted to salt lagoons and soda lakes but these areas are vulnerable to habitat loss and water pollution . The plumage is pinker than the slightly larger greater flamingo, but less so than the Caribbean flamingo. It can be differentiated from these species by its grayish legs with pink joints ( tibiotarsal articulation ), and also by

312-438: A suitable spot on the mudflat to build a nest (the female usually selects the place). Copulation usually occurs during nest building, which is sometimes interrupted by another flamingo pair trying to commandeer the nesting site for their use. Flamingos aggressively defend their nesting sites. Both the male and the female contribute to building the nest, and to protecting the nest and egg. Same-sex pairs have been reported. After

351-597: A while, the microcrèches merge into "crèches" containing thousands of chicks. Chicks that do not stay in their crèches are vulnerable to predators. When young flamingos are around three to three and a half months old, their flight feathers will finish growing in, allowing them to fly. The first flamingo hatched in a European zoo was a Chilean flamingo at Zoo Basel in Switzerland in 1958. Since then, over 389 flamingos have grown up in Basel and been distributed to other zoos around

390-416: A white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; even if adequately nourished, they may turn a pale pink if they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. The greater flamingo is the tallest of the six different species of flamingos, standing at 3.9 to 4.7 feet (1.2 to 1.4 m) with a weight up to 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg), and

429-421: Is also a mention of flamingo brains in a later, highly contentious source, detailing, in the life of Elagabalus , a food item not apparently to his liking as much as camels ' heels and parrot tongues, in the belief that the latter was a prophylactic : In imitation of Apicius he frequently ate camels-heels and also cocks-combs taken from the living birds, and the tongues of peacocks and nightingales , because he

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468-458: Is called a "flamboyance". The name flamingo comes from Portuguese or Spanish flamengo ' flame-colored ' , which in turn comes from Provençal flamenc – a combination of flama ' flame ' and a Germanic-like suffix -ing . The word may also have been influenced by the Spanish ethnonym flamenco ' Fleming ' or ' Flemish ' . The name of the genus, Phoenicopterus ,

507-575: Is crimson in color. The first flamingo hatched in a European zoo was a Chilean flamingo at Zoo Basel ( Switzerland ) in 1958. In 1988, a Chilean flamingo that lived in the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City , Utah, had mistakenly not received his routine wing clipping. The flamingo escaped, and became a local legend in the greater Salt Lake area known as Pink Floyd the Flamingo. Pink Floyd came to Utah in

546-483: Is from Ancient Greek φοινικόπτερος (phoinikopteros)  ' crimson /red-feathered'; other genera names include Phoeniconaias , which means ' crimson/red water nymph (or naiad) ' , and Phoenicoparrus , which means ' crimson/red bird (though, an unknown bird of omen ) ' . The family Phoenicopteridae was introduced by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1831, with Phoenicopterus as

585-506: The Wichita, Kansas , zoo in 2005. One was spotted in Texas 14 years later. It had been seen previously by birders in Texas, Wisconsin and Louisiana. Young flamingos hatch with grayish-red plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta-carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly colored, thus a more desirable mate;

624-514: The type genus . Traditionally, the long-legged Ciconiiformes , probably a paraphyletic assemblage, have been considered the flamingos' closest relatives and the family was included in the order. Usually, the ibises and spoonbills of the Threskiornithidae were considered their closest relatives within this order. Earlier genetic studies, such as those of Charles Sibley and colleagues, also supported this relationship. Relationships to

663-576: The waterfowl were considered as well, especially as flamingos are parasitized by feather lice of the genus Anaticola , which are otherwise exclusively found on ducks and geese. The peculiar presbyornithids were used to argue for a close relationship between flamingos, waterfowl, and waders. A 2002 paper concluded they are waterfowl , but a 2014 comprehensive study of bird orders found that flamingos and grebes are not waterfowl, but rather are part of Columbea , along with doves , sandgrouse , and mesites . Recent molecular studies have suggested

702-1112: The 11th and the 14th centuries. Catalan never underwent the shift from /u/ to /y/ or the shift from /o/ to /u/ (except in unstressed syllables in some dialects) and so had diverged phonologically before those changes affected Old Occitan. Old Occitan changed and evolved somewhat during its history, but the basic sound system can be summarised as follows: Notes: Old Occitan is a non-standardised language regarding its spelling, meaning that different graphemic signs can represent one sound and vice versa. For example: Some notable characteristics of Old Occitan: Bela Domna·l vostre cors gens E·lh vostre bel olh m'an conquis, E·l doutz esgartz e lo clars vis, E·l vostre bels essenhamens, Que, can be m'en pren esmansa, De beutat no·us trob egansa: La genser etz c'om posc'e·l mon chauzir, O no·i vei clar dels olhs ab que·us remir. O pretty lady, all your grace and eyes of beauty conquered me, sweet glance and brightness of your face and all your nature has to tell so if I make an appraisal I find no one like in beauty: most pleasing to be found in all

741-447: The chicks hatch, the only parental expense is feeding. Both the male and the female feed their chicks with a kind of crop milk , produced in glands lining the whole of the upper digestive tract (not just the crop). The hormone prolactin stimulates production. Crop milk contains both fat and protein, as with mammalian milk, but unlike mammalian milk, it contains no carbohydrates. ( Pigeons and doves also produce crop milk, though just in

780-531: The decline of the wild stock numbers. Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes ( / f l ə ˈ m ɪ ŋ ɡ oʊ z / ) are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae , which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes . There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean), and two species native to Afro-Eurasia . A group of flamingoes

819-495: The emperor's arrival in Rome , at which two thousand of the choicest fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been served. He himself eclipsed even this at the dedication of a platter, which on account of its enormous size he called the "Shield of Minerva , Defender of the City." In this he mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks , the tongues of flamingoes and

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858-460: The environmental conditions are favorable for breeding. Males and females co-operate in building a pillar-shaped mud nest, and both incubate the egg laid by the female, taking turns to sit on the egg. Upon hatching, the chicks have gray plumage; they do not gain the typical pink adult coloration for 2–3 years. Both male and female flamingos can produce a nutritious fluid from glands in their crop to feed their young. Due to their diet, this crop milk

897-410: The food they eat, and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae, which line the mandibles, and the large, rough-surfaced tongue. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoids in their diet of animal and plant plankton . American flamingos are a brighter red color because of the beta carotene availability in their food while

936-421: The glands lining the crop, which contains less fat and more protein than flamingo crop milk.) For the first six days after the chicks hatch, the adults and chicks stay in the nesting sites. At around 7–12 days old, the chicks begin to move out of their nests and explore their surroundings. When they are two weeks old, the chicks congregate in groups, called "microcrèches", and their parents leave them alone. After

975-646: The globe. Greater , an at least 83-year-old greater flamingo , believed to be the oldest in the world, died at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia in January 2014. Zoos have used mirrors to improve flamingo breeding behaviour. The mirrors are thought to give the flamingos the impression that they are in a larger flock than they actually are. While many different kinds of birds were valued items in Roman food, flamingos were among

1014-406: The grebe-flamingo clade , the taxon Mirandornithes ("miraculous birds" due to their extreme divergence and apomorphies) has been proposed. Alternatively, they could be placed in one order, with Phoenocopteriformes taking priority. The cladogram below showing the phylogenetic relationships between the six extant flamingo species is based on a study by Roberto Frias-Soler and collaborators that

1053-530: The language used by the troubadours , was the first Romance language with a literary corpus and had an enormous influence on the development of lyric poetry in other European languages. The interpunct was a feature of its orthography and survives today in Catalan and Gascon . The official language of the sovereign principality of the Viscounty of Béarn was the local vernacular Bearnès dialect of Old Occitan. It

1092-416: The larger amount of black on the bill (more than half). Young chicks may have no sign of pink coloring whatsoever, but instead remain gray or peach. The Chilean flamingo's bill is equipped with comb-like structures that enable it to filter food—mainly algae and plankton—from the water of the coastal mudflats, estuaries , lagoons, and salt lakes where it lives. Chilean flamingos live in large flocks in

1131-856: The lesser flamingos are a paler pink due to ingesting a smaller amount of this pigment. These carotenoids are broken down into pigments by liver enzymes. The source of this varies by species, and affects the color saturation. Flamingos whose sole diet is blue-green algae are darker than those that get it second-hand by eating animals that have digested blue-green algae. Though flamingos prefer to drink freshwater, they are equipped with glands under their eyes that remove extra salt from their bodies. This organ allows them to drink saltwater as well. Flamingos are considered very noisy birds with their noises and vocalizations ranging from grunting or growling to nasal honking. Vocalizations play an important role in parent-chick recognition, ritualized displays, and keeping large flocks together. Variations in vocalizations exist in

1170-523: The milt of lampreys , brought by his captains and triremes from the whole empire, from Parthia to the Spanish strait . Martial , the poet, devoted an ironic epigram , alluding to flamingo tongues: Latin : Dat mihi penna rubens nomen; sed lingua gulosis Nostra sapit: quid, si garrula lingua foret? [Translated:] My red wing gives me my name; but it is my tongue that is considered savoury by epicures. What, if my tongue had been able to sing? There

1209-612: The most prized in Ancient Roman cuisine. An early reference to their consumption, and especially of their tongues, is found in Pliny the Elder , who states in the Natural History : Latin : phoenicopteri linguam praecipui saporis esse apicius docuit, nepotum omnium altissimus gurges [Translated:] Apicius , that very deepest whirlpool of all our epicures , has informed us that the tongue of

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1248-570: The phœnicopterus is of the most exquisite flavour. Although a few recipes for flamingos are found in Apicius' extant works, none refer specifically to flamingo tongues. The three flamingo recipes in the De re coquinaria ( On the Subject of Cooking ) involve the whole creature: Suetonius mentions flamingo tongues in his Life of Vitellius : Most notorious of all was the dinner given by his brother to celebrate

1287-530: The shortest flamingo species (the lesser) has a height of 2.6 feet (0.8 m) and weighs 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg). Flamingos can have a wingspan as small as 37 inches (94 cm) to as big as 59 inches (150 cm). Flamingos can open their bills by raising the upper jaw as well as by dropping the lower. Flamingos are omnivores who filter-feed on brine shrimp and blue-green algae as well as insect larvae, small insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Their bills are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from

1326-510: The voices of different species of flamingos. Flamingos are very social birds; they live in colonies whose population can number in the thousands. These large colonies are believed to serve three purposes for the flamingos: avoiding predators, maximizing food intake, and using scarce suitable nesting sites more efficiently. Before breeding, flamingo colonies split into breeding groups of about 15 to 50 birds. Both males and females in these groups perform synchronized ritual displays. The members of

1365-401: The wild and require crowded conditions to stimulate breeding. During breeding season, males and females display a variety of behaviors to attract mates, including head flagging—swiveling their heads from side-to-side in tandem—and wing salutes, where the wings are repeatedly opened and closed. Flamingos in general have a poor record of successful breeding because they will delay reproduction until

1404-498: The winters to eat the brine shrimp that live in the Great Salt Lake , and flew north to Idaho and Montana in the spring and summer. Pink Floyd became a popular tourist attraction and local icon until his disappearance and presumed death after he flew north to Idaho in the spring of 2005 and was never seen again. Since there is such a decline in the numbers of this species, breeding programs have been implemented in zoos to offset

1443-458: Was published in 2022. Lesser flamingo ( Phoeniconaias minor ) Andean flamingo ( Phoenicoparrus andinus ) James's flamingo ( Phoenicoparrus jamesi ) Chilean flamingo ( Phoenicopterus chilensis ) Greater flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus ) American flamingo ( Phoenicopterus ruber ) Six extant flamingo species are recognized by most sources, and were formerly placed in one genus (have common characteristics) – Phoenicopterus . As

1482-522: Was the spoken language of law courts and of business and it was the written language of customary law. Although vernacular languages were increasingly preferred to Latin in western Europe in the late Middle Ages, the status of Occitan in Béarn was unusual because its use was required by law: "lawyers will draft their petitions and pleas in the vernacular language of the present country, both in speech and in writing". Old Catalan and Old Occitan diverged between

1521-553: Was told that one who ate them was immune from the plague. He served to the palace-attendants, moreover, huge platters heaped up with the viscera of mullets , and flamingo-brains, partridge -eggs, thrush -brains, and the heads of parrots, pheasants, and peacocks. Old Occitan Among the earliest records of Occitan are the Tomida femina , the Boecis and the Cançó de Santa Fe . Old Occitan,

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