They are grey or white, and turn pink over the first couple of years of their lives. And for more amazing trivia from the wild, here are 37 Animal Oddities That Prove Mother Nature Is Crazy Weird. Male and female flamingo coloration is the same. A young flamingo hatches with beautiful silver grey down. The same substance is present in the carrots you eat. That question actually has an even more fascinating answer, and it involves some pretty incredible parenting. Feather coloration is derived from carotenoid pigments found in a flamingo’s food. Claim: Flamingos are pink because their diet is high in organisms like shrimp and red algae. The Chilean flamingo is pale pink. Did you know birds are capable of creating their own “milk”? But if you would like to attain Orangish Pink like a Flamingo, try eating the shell of the shrimp, not the shrimp in itself and of course Arctic Krill also helps. The word 'flamingo' comes from the … This is then replaced with dull brown feathers. How flamingos turn pink. Flamingos are best known for the flamboyant spectrum of pink, red and orange colours on their legs, faces and beaks.. And it turns out that flamingos get … Captive flamingos are a notable exception; they may turn a pale pink if they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. Flamingos eat both algae and shrimp-like critters, and both contribute to their fabulous pinkness. The Power of Flamingo Milk. It may, however, turn a bizarre, burnt orange—a color that even the most radiantly pink flamingo couldn't pull off. So, how do baby flamingos turn pink and go from gray fluffball to the remarkably colored adults we instantly recognize? It depends on what colour you would like to turn into. But flamingos aren't actually born pink. The Caribbean flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber rubber) are the brightest, showing their colors of red, pink, or orange on their legs, bills, and faces. How they feed Flamingos are filter feeders, living off algae and tiny animals such as shrimp, mollusks, and insect larvae that live … You may have heard that it’s because they eat shrimp, but the real answer is a little more complex. It takes about five or six years for them to gain their full characteristic adult pink colour, which builds up from their carotenoid-enriched diet. Flamingos and shrimp are actually both pink from eating algae that contains carotenoid pigments. Newly-batched chicks are gray or white.” It is no coincidence that when we boil shrimp (which are high in carotenoids), they turn pink. While many migrating flamingos do stop over at other saline lakes along the East African Rift Valley, most rely on Natron, congregating here in a gloriously flamboyant flurry of pink. Flamingos congregate at Lake Natron in a gloriously flamboyant flurry of pink. According to the Food & Drug Administration (who hasn't approved such pills, by the way), your skin won't turn pink.