Greater flamingo

The greater flamingo was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. It was previously thought to be the same species as the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), but because of coloring differences of its head, neck, body, and bill, the two flamingos are now most commonly considered separate species. The greater flamingo has no subspecies and is therefore monotypic. ==Distribution==

It is found in parts of Northern Africa (including coastal areas of northern Algeria, Egypt further inland along the Nile River, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia), portions of Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda), Southern Asia (coastal Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), the Western Asia (Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran, Oman, Israel, Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) and Southern Europe (including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, France in the Camargue and Corsica, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Spain and the Balearic Islands, and Turkey). The most northern breeding spot is the Zwillbrocker Venn in western Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. They have been recorded breeding in the United Arab Emirates at three different locations in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. In Gujarat, a coastal state in the west of India, flamingos can be observed at the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Flamingo City, and in the Thol Bird Sanctuary. They remain there during the entire winter season. ==Description==

The greater flamingo is the largest living species of flamingo, averaging tall and weighing . The largest male flamingos have been recorded to be up to tall and to weigh . Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking. Chicks are covered in gray fluffy down. Subadult flamingos are paler with dark legs. Adults feeding chicks also become paler, but retain the bright pink legs. The coloration comes from the carotenoid pigments in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds. Secretions of the uropygial gland also contain carotenoids. During the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color. This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying "make-up". File:002 Greater flamingo taking off in the Camargue Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg|Taking off in Camargue, France File:019 Greater flamingo landing in the Camargue Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg|Landing in the Camargue, France File:Lesser and Greater flamingo .jpg|With a lesser flamingo, in Mumbai, India File:Lesser and Greater Flamingo, West Coast, ZA-WC, ZA imported from iNaturalist photo 561770502.jpg|Lesser flamingoes (foreground) and greater flamingoes (background), in South Africa == Ecology ==

Like all flamingos, this species lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound. Adult greater flamingos have few natural predators. Eggs and chicks may be eaten by raptors, crows, gulls, and the marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer); an estimated half of the predation of greater flamingo eggs and chicks is from the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). Diet and feeding The greater flamingo resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp, brine shrimp, other crustaceans, seeds (such as rice), blue-green algae, microscopic organisms (such as diatoms), insect larvae (such as chironomids), and mollusks. The greater flamingo feeds with its head down, its upper jaw movable and not rigidly fixed to its skull. File:Phoenicopterus roseus flight (Walvis bay).jpg|A subadult (top) with an adult (bottom) in flight File:Greater Flamingo AMSM4383.jpg|In flight at Jamnagar, India File:Decollo - panoramio.jpg|Colony in the Po River delta, Italy File:Phoenicopterus roseus feeding - sub-adult.ogv|A subadult feeding in Walvis Bay, Namibia ==Reproduction==

Unlike many other species of long-lived birds, greater flamingos do not form pair bonds that last over consecutive breeding seasons. When considering prospective breeding partners, there appears to be a preference for older, more experienced individuals. As both sexes seem to show this preference, pairs tend to consist of individuals of similar age. While both sexes are involved in parental care, observations in captivity indicate that males are more involved than females, such as with incubation and nest protection. It is hypothesized that females may spend more time away from the nest in order to feed and recover from egg laying. Only one egg is laid, but in the event of that egg's loss, an additional egg can be laid. Eggs take 26-32 days to hatch. Adult plumage is not acquired by most individuals until 4 years of age, but less commonly can occur as early as an age of 30 months. While sexual maturity is reached by 3 years of age, most females do not reproduce until 5-6 years old. File:Greater flamingo egg.jpg|Egg at Cincinnati Zoo File:Sub-adult Phoenicopterus roseus.jpg|Chick with gray down File:The juvenile greater flamingo.jpg|Juvenile at Ghadira Nature Reserve, Malta File:GreaterFlamingoSubAdultsAtPulicatLake.jpg|Subadults at Pulicat Lake, India ==Lifespan==

Anatomy Museum The typical lifespan in captivity, according to Basel Zoo, is over 60 years. In the wild, the average lifespan is 30–40 years. The oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia that died at the age of at least 83 years. The bird's exact age is not known; it was already a mature adult when it arrived in Adelaide in 1933. It was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age. ==Conservation==

The primary threats to flamingo populations are bacteria, toxins, and pollution in water supplies, which is usually run-off from manufacturing companies, and encroachment on their habitat. In captivity The first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basel's breeding program, over 400 birds have been hatched with between 20 and 27 per year since 2000. == See also ==