Chilean Flamingo

The name "flamingo" comes from the Latin word for flame, referring to its pink plumage.
In nature, the flamingo gets its red colour from some small crustaceans and algae it eats. In zoos, flamingos get a red dye mixed into their food to give them a red colour.

The flamingo is a social animal that lives in flocks ranging from a few individuals to several thousand. It lays its eggs in small elevated mud nests and feeds by filtering the water with its beak, much like a blue whale filters its food using its baleen.

In Roman times, the flamingo tongue was considered a delicacy. Just 30 years ago, both flamingos and their eggs were eaten.

The oldest flamingo in captivity was a Chilean flamingo that lived to be 83 years old.

• Distribution: From central Peru through the Andes and Uruguay to the southern temperate part of South America and Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America
• Stock: Near-threatened
• Weight: 2.5-3.5 kg. Males are slightly larger than females
• Height: 79 to 145 centimetres
• Sexual maturity: 6 years of age
• Incubation period: Around 29 days
• Number of chicks: Chilean flamingos mate once or twice a year depending on the availability of food. They typically lay one egg per mating season
• Food: Flamingos are primarily carnivores, so their diet typically consists of insects, mussels, snails and crustaceans. However, they also eat algae and plankton
• Life expectancy: Approximately 50 years
• Latin name: Phoenicopterus chilensis