Flamingos are friendly animals and are found in large flocks. They often dance as a group, moving their wings about, bowing and bending their necks and running back and forth. These dances are called breeding dances and are performed to make sure that the whole colony breeds at the same time. A few flamingos start the dance and eventually more and more join in. These group displays may occur on and off for several months before the flamingos actually select their mates.

Diet

The flamingo feeds from the water eating small parts of plants, algae, and tiny water animals like shrimp. Its down-turned bill plays a vital part in its interesting feeding style. The flamingo drags its bill upside down through the water using it to strain small particles of food. The flamingo swings its head from side to side and swishes its fat tongue, sucking the lake water in and forcing it through filters. This filter is coarse and is made of bony plates in the flamingo┐s mouth. The filter captures large food particles and traps algae which the flamingo then eats. As the bill moves through the water, the water and mud are pumped out through slits in the bill, and only a mixture of food remains. This filter-feeding system is unique to the flamingo and evolved to allow this bird to skim the algae from the water surface. Flamingos can filter up to 20 bill-sized amounts of algae-rich water in a second. This special feeding system also means that the flamingo does not compete with other animals for food. Lesser flamingos are more commonly found feeding at night.

Adaptations

The flamingo┐s bill is adapted to straining small particles of food from the water and for filtering out food from the mud and water. The down-turned bill is specifically adapted for this specialised feeding style.