Flamingoes Near Mumbai, India

Why are flamingos pink?

flamingos flaunt grey/white colour feathers and only develop their pinkish hue after delving into a diet of brine shrimp and blue-green algae – food that would likely kill other animals.

“Flamingos tend to live in inhospitable, relatively remote wetlands – lakes so alkaline in pH it could burn human flesh off the bones. Within this water, however, is an untapped resource of food like crustaceans, cyanobacteria and diatom algae. All of these can be dangerous to many other animals as they contain toxic chemicals called carotenoids,” explains Dr Paul Rose, zoologist at the University of Exeter.