Quick & curious · Nature

Flamingos eat their way to pink.

A flock of greater flamingos in flight
Photo: Christian Ferrer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original

The story behind it

Flamingos are pink because of what they eat.

Young flamingos hatch grayish. Their color comes from food: beta-carotene and bacteria from the water. A pale flamingo is usually sick or underfed.

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. Wikipedia: Flamingo (accessed 2026-10-05)

Image credits

  • “Phoenicopterus roseus, Lido de Thau cf05.jpg”, Christian Ferrer, CC BY-SA 4.0