Greater flamingos live in coastal ponds and lagoons in West Africa, South Africa, East India, Iran, South Russia and the Mediterranean basin.
Profile
Least concern (LC)
Lifestyle
To feed, the flamingo moves its head over the water and scrapes the mud with its beak. Using its tongue, which acts like a piston, it sucks in and rejects the muddy water, retaining the food particles thanks to the fine lamellae that line its beak. Given the size of these particles, it spends hours feeding to get its fill.
In France, there are populations of wild pink flamingos, particularly in the Camargue.
Distinctive features
They feed on algae, plankton and crustaceans rich in carotenoid pigments which gives them their pink colour. In France, wild populations can be found in Camargue.
Anecdote
The Grande Volière at the Parc zoologique de Paris is home to a group of around fifty flamingos. A marshy area has been created so that these birds can build their nests, which are mounds of mud up to 40 cm high.
