I'm going to take about a week off from this thing for Christmas. But before I do, here are a few facts about flamingos and their knees:
- When flamingos walk, it looks like their knees bend backwards. But actually, those are their ankles. All birds' legs have the same three joints as humans do, except everything is higher up, so that their ankles appear to be in a similar position as our knees. In a sense, they're all walking around on tip-toe.
- The pink color in flamingo feathers comes from chemicals called carotenoids in the algae they eat.
- The flamingo filters its food from water by using its thick tongue to suck in the water and food and plunge out only the water. The Romans used to enjoy eating flamingo tongues as a delicacy.
- A female flamingo lays only one egg each breeding season. Flamingos will not breed at all unless they are with large numbers of other flamingos.
Merry Christmas!
Sources:
WonderClub Greater Flamingo
Chaffee Zoo Greater Flamingo
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