Greater flamingos apparently aren’t fans of a sun-faded look for their neck feathers.
Scientists have known that the leggy birds touch up their color by smearing their necks with a serum they produce glands near their tails. But greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) aren’t simply enhancing color that’s already there;
Flamingos’ feathers help the birds fly, keep their bodies dry and attract mates. The feathers get their red color from carotenoids, molecules responsible for many natural pigments, found in the birds’ steady diet of brine shrimp and algae.
When flamingos preen, they care for their feathers a bit like how we care for our hair, cleaning out accumulated dirt and parasites. And like some of us, they add color. To apply their DIY feather dye, flamingos rub their cheeks on a gland above their tail called the uropygial gland, which generates a color-carrying serum.
Scientists have known that the leggy birds touch up their color by smearing their necks with a serum they produce glands near their tails. But greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) aren’t simply enhancing color that’s already there;
Flamingos’ feathers help the birds fly, keep their bodies dry and attract mates. The feathers get their red color from carotenoids, molecules responsible for many natural pigments, found in the birds’ steady diet of brine shrimp and algae.
When flamingos preen, they care for their feathers a bit like how we care for our hair, cleaning out accumulated dirt and parasites. And like some of us, they add color. To apply their DIY feather dye, flamingos rub their cheeks on a gland above their tail called the uropygial gland, which generates a color-carrying serum.
