Greater flamingo
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Distinguish|Greater (flamingo)}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status2 = CITES_A2
| status2_system = CITES
| status2_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}
| image = 010 Greater flamingos male and female in the Camargue during mating season Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg
| image_caption = male and female in the Camargue
| image2 = Phoenicopterus roseus (Rosaflamingo - Greater Flamingo) — Weltvogelpark Walsrode 2013.ogg
| image2_caption = Voice of the greater flamingo
| genus = Phoenicopterus
| species = roseus
| authority = Pallas, 1811
| synonyms =
- Phoenicopterus ruber roseus
- Phoenicopterus antiquorum{{cite book |last1=de Klemm |first1=Cyrille |last2=Lausche |first2=Barbara J. |title=African Wildlife Laws |date=1987 |publisher=IUCN |isbn=2880320917 |page=1147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ysDEogqiJAC |access-date=23 March 2019}}
}}
The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. Common in the Old World, they are found in Northern (coastal) and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Subcontinent (south of the Himalayas), the Middle East, the Levant, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe.
Taxonomy
The greater flamingo was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. It was previously thought to be the same species as the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), but because of coloring differences of its head, neck, body, and bill, the two flamingos are now most commonly considered separate species. The greater flamingo has no subspecies and is therefore monotypic.{{cite journal |last1=del Hoyo |first1=J. |last2=Collar |first2=N. |last3=Garcia |first3=E. F. J. |editor1-first=Josep |editor1-last=Del Hoyo |editor2-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Elliott |editor3-first=Jordi |editor3-last=Sargatal |editor4-first=David |editor4-last=Christie |editor5-first=Eduardo |editor5-last=De Juana |title=Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) |url=https://www.hbw.com/species/greater-flamingo-phoenicopterus-roseus |journal=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |year=2020 |publisher=Lynx Edicions |access-date=23 March 2019 |location=Barcelona, Spain |doi=10.2173/bow.grefla3.01 |s2cid=241655366 }}
Description
The greater flamingo is the largest living species of flamingo,{{cite book |last1=Feduccia |first1=Alan |author-link1=Alan Feduccia |title=The Origin and Evolution of Birds |year=1999 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0300078617 |page=196 |edition=illustrated, reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QRKV7eSqmIC |access-date=23 March 2019}} averaging {{convert|110|–|150|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall and weighing {{convert|2|–|4|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. The largest male flamingos have been recorded to be up to {{convert|187|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall and to weigh {{convert|4.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|title=Greater flamingo|url=http://en.tourduvalat.org/content/download/7378/73859/version/2/file/All+About+Greater+Flamingo.pdf|access-date=2008-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226145743/http://en.tourduvalat.org/content/download/7378/73859/version/2/file/All+About+Greater+Flamingo.pdf|archive-date=2009-02-26|url-status=dead}}
Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.
Chicks are covered in gray fluffy down. Subadult flamingos are paler with dark legs. Adults feeding chicks also become paler, but retain the bright pink legs. The coloration comes from the carotenoid pigments in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds.
Secretions of the uropygial gland also contain carotenoids. During the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color. This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying "make-up".{{cite journal|author=Amat, J.A.|author2=Rendón, M.A.|author3=Garrido-Fernández, J.|author4=Garrido, A.|author5=Rendón-Martos, M.|author6=Pérez-Gálvez, A.|name-list-style=amp|year=2011|title=Greater flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus use uropygial secretions as make-up|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|volume=65|issue=4|pages=665–673|doi=10.1007/s00265-010-1068-z|s2cid=30299643}}
{{Clr}}
File:Greater flamingo egg.jpg|Egg at Cincinnati Zoo
File:Sub-adult Phoenicopterus roseus.jpg|Chick with gray down
File:The juvenile greater flamingo.jpg|Juvenile at Ghadira Nature Reserve, Malta
File:GreaterFlamingoSubAdultsAtPulicatLake.jpg|Subadults at Pulicat Lake, India
File:Flamant Rose-Oran-Algerie.jpg|Pink flamingo at Lake Télamine, Oran, Algeria.
Distribution
It is found in parts of Northern Africa (including coastal areas of northern Algeria, Egypt further inland along the Nile River, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia), portions of Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda), Southern Asia (coastal Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka), the Middle East (Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran, Oman, Israel, West Bank, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) and Southern Europe (including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, France in the Camargue and Corsica, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Spain and the Balearic Islands, and Turkey).{{gbif|id=4352332|taxon=Phoenicopterus roseus}}
The most northern breeding spot is the Zwillbrocker Venn in western Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. They have been recorded breeding in the United Arab Emirates at three different locations in the Abu Dhabi Emirate.{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Shahid|display-authors=etal|date=2017|title=Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus): Important wintering sites and breeding records in the United Arab Emirates|journal=Zoology in the Middle East|volume=63|issue=3|pages=194–201|doi=10.1080/09397140.2017.1331586|s2cid=90286615}}
In Gujarat, a coastal state in the west of India, flamingos can be observed at the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Flamingo City, and in the Thol Bird Sanctuary. They remain there during the entire winter season.Koshti A.J. and Bony L.S (2016). "Ethology of greater flamingo in captivity", Undergraduate thesis submitted to St.Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, India.
Ecology
The greater flamingo resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, brine shrimp, other crustaceans, seeds (such as rice), blue-green algae, microscopic organisms (such as diatoms), insect larvae (such as chironomids), and mollusks.{{cite web |first1=Holle' |last1=Draughn |title=Phoenicopterus roseus greater flamingo |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phoenicopterus_roseus/|website=Animal Diversity Web |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=18 August 2024}} The greater flamingo feeds with its head down, its upper jaw movable and not rigidly fixed to its skull.{{cite web |title=Flamingo Feeding |website=Stanford University |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Flamingo_Feeding.html |access-date=11 March 2013}}
Like all flamingos, this species lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound.
Lifespan
The typical lifespan in captivity, according to Basel Zoo, is over 60 years.{{cite web |title=Animals-Vögel-Flamingo |url=https://www.zoobasel.ch/en/tiere/tiere/voegel_tierbeschreibung.php?TiereID=149&ap3=1_7 |website=Basel Zoo |access-date=23 March 2019}} In the wild, the average lifespan is 30–40 years.{{Cite web|url=https://animalcorner.org/animals/greater-flamingo/|title = Greater Flamingo - Facts, Diet & Habitat Information}}
Threats and predators
=Natural=
Adult greater flamingos have few natural predators. Eggs and chicks may be eaten by raptors, crows, gulls, and the marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer); an estimated half of the predation of greater flamingo eggs and chicks is from the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis).{{cite web |title=Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) |url=https://www.marwell.org.uk/zoo/explore/animals/27/greater-flamingo |website=Marwell Zoo |access-date=23 March 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Matthew |first1=Charles |title=Flamingos |url=https://www.birdlife.org/birds/flamingo |access-date=2 January 2024 |work=birdlife.org}}
=Human=
The primary threats to flamingo populations are bacteria, toxins, and pollution in water supplies, which is usually run-off from manufacturing companies, and encroachment on their habitat.{{cn|date=February 2025}}
In human captivity
The first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basel's breeding program, over 400 birds have been hatched with between 20 and 27 per year since 2000.{{cite news |title=Zolli feiert 50 Jahre Flamingozucht und Flamingosforschung |trans-title=50 years of flamingo breeding |work=Basler Zeitung |date=13 August 2008 |language=de |url=http://bazonline.ch/basel/dossier/zoo-basel/Zolli-feiert-50-Jahre-Flamingozucht-und-Flamingosforschung/story/26419827 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322081331/https://bazonline.ch/basel/dossier/zoo-basel/Zolli-feiert-50-Jahre-Flamingozucht-und-Flamingosforschung/story/26419827 |archive-date=March 22, 2009}} The oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia that died at the age of at least 83 years. The bird's exact age is not known; it was already a mature adult when it arrived in Adelaide in 1933. It was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age.{{cite news |last1=Kelton |first1=Sam |title=Greater, the 83-year-old Adelaide Zoo flamingo, dies |work=The Advertiser |date=31 January 2014 |url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/greater-the-83yearold-adelaide-zoo-flamingo-dies/news-story/e250313a5c27314825154ea8bc49cb07 |access-date=31 January 2014}}{{cite news |last=Fedorowytsch |first=Tom |title=Flamingo believed to be world's oldest dies at Adelaide Zoo aged 83 |work=ABC News |date=31 January 2014 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-31/adelaide-zoo27s-83-year-old-flamingo-put-down/5230258 |access-date=31 January 2014}}
File:Phoenicopterus roseus flight (Walvis bay).jpg|A subadult (top) with an adult (bottom) in flight
File:Greater Flamingo AMSM4383.jpg|In flight at Jamnagar, India
Decollo - panoramio.jpg|Colony in the Po River delta, Italy
Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) resting.jpg|Resting heads, Bahrain
File:Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) skeleton at the Royal Veterinary College anatomy museum.JPG|The skeleton of a greater flamingo
File:Phoenicopterus roseus feeding - sub-adult.ogv|A subadult feeding in Walvis Bay, Namibia
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{Commons category|Phoenicopterus roseus}}
- [https://www.panoramio.com/photo/17019637 Performing greater flamingos in open field] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109144450/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17019637 |date=2018-01-09 }}
- Greater flamingo - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/097.pdf Species text] - The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- [https://avibirds.com/rose-flamingo/ Article with video about Greater Flamingo at avibirds.com]
{{Flamingos}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q179863}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas
Category:Birds of Central Asia
Category:Birds of the Middle East
Category:Fauna of the Middle East
Category:Birds of the Arabian Peninsula