Plenty of Pink
by John Telfer
Title
Plenty of Pink
Artist
John Telfer
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
While visiting the San Diego Zoo located in San Diego, California I came across this large group of Pink Flamingos some taking the time out to cool off in the water on this hot day in May, and some walking around on the outsie of the water looking for a bite to eat. The one thing that popped out at me upon taking this photograph was how the San Diego Zoo had managed to make this look so natural, as if the Flamingos were in their own natural habitat with the water and the trees in the background. Flamingos ( pronunciation (help�info)) are a type of wading bird in the genus Phoenicopterus (from Greek φοινικόπτερος meaning "purple wing"), the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae. There are four flamingo species in the Americas and two species in the Old World. Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some species of Flamingos have the ability to have half of its body to go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep, but this has not been proven.[citation needed] Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water.[11] As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.
Young flamingos hatch with greyish reddish 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 coloured and thus a more desirable mate; a white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. This is changing as more zoos begin to add prawns and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos.
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Uploaded
March 20th, 2012
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