Talk:Flamingo

What are some of the flamingos predators?

Flamingo ?

what is the flamiiingo's animal kingdom?

Flamingo knees ?

Do flamingos have knees that bend backwards?

Yes and no. Technically what looks like a Flamingo's knee is really a very high ankle. -- Solipsist 22:16, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Taxonomical disagreement here on wikipedia

Wait a sec. This article classifies the flamingos under the Ciconiiformes, stork-like. The article Bird however says they are a separate order, the Phoenicopteriformes. What am I supposed to beleive? Caesarion 12:14, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

fixed as per Handbook of birds of the World jimfbleak 16:29, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

Which classification do you mean, the present or the one on Bird? It's quite obvious they contradict, only one of both can agree with the Handbook. Caesarion 18:59, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

The morphological and genetic evidence appears to place the flamingos within Ciconiiformes.

Yes, if you define Ciconiiformes as Sibley/Ahlquist did: by simply jumbling together basically everything that is a) a non-anseriform "waterbird" and b) which DNA-DNA hybridization (which has a fairly limited resolution though it can crack some pronblems better than other methods) could not properly resolve any further. Their "Ciconiiformes" has the same scientific merit as proposing a Class "Ichthyes" for all "fish" including whales just because they're vertebrates and they're aquatic, wich ist to say: none at all. It was the one huge blunder of the study - but that's what we know now, not what was known then (though their faith in the validity of that grouping was a bit on the blind side; such a group had last been suggested by some pheneticists in the mid-19th century...). Check the Metaves/Coronaves study (which is finally there in the article, yay! It was 2004, not 2005...) for molecular evidence why flamingos are with near 100% certainty not Ciconiiformes, either Clements' or Sibley/Ahlquist's - though even that study does little to suggest their affinities. My money is on grebes which seems also fairly reasonable according to morphology - reference upcoming -, but I would only bet if my life depended on it... Dysmorodrepanis 09:29, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Old World / New World? West / East?

This doesn't seem very neutral.

Why not? standard phrases without any POV implications jimfbleak 06:45, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Legs - Contradiction?

The reason for this behavior is not unknown. [This theory] has not been proven. There is evidence that flamingos favor one leg [...]

So is the evidence in question related to the theory that hasn't been proven? If so, then we do not know the reason for the favoritisme, we just know of theories. Being as I am just browsing, I'll let someone else do the edit. Lovok 14:31, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Genera

I see that all species are assigned to the Phoenicopterus genus here, however, at least Bird Life International still assigns the two South American species to the genus Phoenicoparrus. Neither seems to support the Phoeniconaias genus, where the Lesser Flamingo was previously assigned to. --Anshelm '77 01:02, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

old post

fixed as per Handbook of birds of the suggest their affinities. My money is on grebes which seems also fairly reasonable according to morphology - reference upcoming -, but I would only bet if my life depended on it...

Where does their color come from?

The colour of the flamingo does not arise, however, as a result of the shrimp it eats but rather the blue-green algae in its diet.

Notable exceptions are the flamingos in captivity, many of which turn a pale pink as they are not fed foods containing sufficient amounts of carotene. This is changing as more zoos begin to add shrimp and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos

So does shrimp contribute to the color or not? Yes shrip contribute all the colour that can be seen. Prometheus^-X303- 18:00, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Its a myth that Flamingos are Pink because they eat prawns/shrimp. Cyanobacteria, which is part of their primary diet, contain reddish/brown carotene which cause the pigmentation change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.101.201.143 (talk) 12:43, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

• • Cyanobacteria? The article states that shrimp and blue-green algae are the sources. Which makes me wonder....why do they give prawns to them in zoos. Wouldn't blue-green algae be cheaper and more economically/environmentally sound?Nishanoire (talk) 02:42, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

• • For clarification, Flamingos can actually get beta-carotene from shrimp, because the shrimp eat something with beta-carotine (blue-green algae?), however the pigmentation will be fainter as a result. The strongest shades of pink come from diets of pure blue-green algae I don't know how cyanobacteria fits into it all, maybe someone can fill me in? Nishanoire (talk) 03:43, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Conservation status

The "SODA" link should not be linked to the disambiguation page. Someone who knows more than me should change this link to point to the correct article. 70.153.180.128 17:21, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Gay Flamingos

I have no idea what to make of this AP article on the wire today (and on many British papers -- googled), it might warrant a small mention somewhere? Sort of like those gay penguins in the Central Park Zoo. --Bobak 22:32, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Lawn Ornaments

Does anyone also think it is notable that Flamingo lawn ornaments are commonly used? Does that belong in this article? There's a lawn gnome section in the Gnome article. I came to this page hoping to learn why people put pink flamingo statues in their yard. Makes no sense to me, but I'm sure there's an interesting story behind how that tradition started. Peaceoutside 22:53, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

old world

wat is an old world flamingo????????????? please i need help 4 my project

  from K.D  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.170.102.233 (talk) 03:15, 4 November 2007 (UTC) 

old world 2

plz answer my question someone

     from K.D  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.170.102.233 (talk) 03:18, 4 November 2007 (UTC) 

• Old/new world is just a larger grouping for the countries the author lists later, so you don't need to use it really. But I suppose you could think of it like...the old world were the flamingos people knew before Columbus settled on America. New world are the ones that people knew after that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nishanoire (talk • contribs) 02:49, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

plastic flamingos

you need to discuss how north americans have made flamingos into a lawn ornament. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.49.24.75 (talk) 04:05, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

No. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.168.62.197 (talk) 04:46, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

The article Lawn ornament links here. So does Plastic flamingo. Plenty of "discussion" there. --Hordaland (talk) 11:05, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

flamingos are pink--Hunter Dan (talk) 06:33, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Why does "Pink flamingos" redirect here instead of to "Plastic flamingo". Isn't pink flamingo a band name of the plastic ones, and does anyone call the bird a "pink flamingo"? 65.65.230.52 (talk) 14:30, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

How old do these creatures live?

I just read about a 78 year old captive flamingo that was bashed/ attacked by youths in South Australia: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24574238-5006301,00.html I'm quite amazed that a flamingo could live that long. Is this an unusual age for a flamingo to live, or are they known for their longevity?

That would be extreme (and unexpected). Animal Age database lists 44 years for Phoenicopterus ruber as maximum age.

Few birds seem to live for more than 25-30 years very often. So if AnAge shows anything, it is that flamingos can get quite old. To reach 78 you'd have to be very lucky as a flamingo, and there might have been some error. But I would not consider it impossible. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 18:39, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Evolution section

The evolution section looks like an editorial, by somebody enraged at the scientists who have on anatomical as well as genetic evidence with very strong support proposed the relatives of flamingos to be grebes. I'm going to try to improve this, but I would be obliged if some other contributors would as well. For references this webpage with papers by Gerald Mayr could be useful. Innotata 21:19, 26 October 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Innotata (talk • contribs)

How far can flamingos fly?

And do they have migratory patterns? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nishanoire (talk • contribs) 02:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Hello. In the future, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at the reference desk, as you can usually get a quicker answer, and article talk pages are for discussing the article, not asking questions about the subject. Anyways, flamingos can fly about 600 kilometers, or 373 miles, in one night. As for migrating, flamingos are generally non-migrating bird, but will migrate when required, they do so mainly at night (Sources: [1][2]) ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 03:07, 10 December 2009 (UTC)