Stats

Lifespan: 20-30 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Filter Feeder
Activity: Cathemeral
Social: Colony
Biome: Saline wetland
Range: Africa and Eurasia
Movement: Walking
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Flight
Status: Common

About

A tall wading bird whose famous pink plumage comes entirely from the carotenoid pigments in the brine shrimp and algae it filter-feeds on. Its hooked bill is held upside-down underwater, sweeping side to side to strain food from the muck.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2.
hatchling
A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4.
adult
Fully grown with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Phoenicopteriformes
Family: Phoenicopteridae
Genus: Phoenicopterus
Species: Phoenicopterus roseus