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Flamingos
- Thread starter Enigma'07
- Start date
I've heard of the color issue as well. I doubt if white or pink really make much of a difference in being more visible to predators. A lot of animals are color blind, aren't they? And even the ones that see color, white still reflects more light than pink. So pink is actually less visible.
I'm not positive. I'd guess an examination of the retinas to see whether they have color sensing apparati. I don't recall the physicalities of exactly. I know there are rods and cones, but don't recall which detects which.
I’ve heard the logic that grey/white chicks blend in more than bright pink ones…but also the chicks wouldn’t be pink because the colour does come from what they eat (the crabs, shrimp, and other crustaceans eaten by flamingos contain coloured molecules called polyenes.)
Regarding your question of seeing colour, the simple way is to look for colour cones (rods react to black/white). But this sites lists an other experiment;
Regarding your question of seeing colour, the simple way is to look for colour cones (rods react to black/white). But this sites lists an other experiment;
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_004.htmlThree scientists at the University of California at Santa Barbara adopted the traditional strategy of trying to tempt the dogs with food. The menu, frankly, could have stood some improvement: would YOU cooperate with people whose idea of a reward was a cheese-and-beef-flavored pellet? Nonetheless, the researchers found three mutts who were sufficiently desperate to play along. They showed the dogs three screens lit up from behind with colored lights--two of one color, the third of a different color. The mutts got the pellet if they poked the odd-colored screen with their noses.
The dogs had no difficulty distinguishing colors at the opposite ends of the visible spectrum, such as red and blue, and they proved to be demons with blues in general, quickly learning to differentiate blue from violet. But they bombed at other colors, confusing greenish-yellow, orange, and red.
The researchers concluded that dogs suffer from a type of colorblindness that in humans is called deuteranopia. Normal humans have three types of color receptors for red, green, and blue. Deuteranopes lack the green receptor, and thus (apparently) can't tell a lemon from a lime--or, for that matter, a red traffic light from a green one. One more reason to put your foot down next time the pooch says he wants to drive.
John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
Enigma'07 said:How is it possible to tell whether an animal is color blind or not?
As invert_nexus said but also by inferral. Most flying nectar drinking insects will have colour vision as inferred by the colourful adaptations of the flowers which attract them.
Most flying nectar drinking insects will have colour vision...
Ahh, but insects actually see in a different spectrum, don't they? I seem to recall that flowers shine like beacons in the insects visual spectrum. I think it goes higher up into the ultraviolet. Of course, that doesn't preclude color vision.
Enigma'07 said:This picture shows that they're originally white, and I've heard that they turn pink because of the food they eat, but isn't being pink a disadvantage for survival. Both male and female turn pink, so it can't be some way of attracting a mate, can it?
Flamingos usually live in lage alkaline or saline lakes. They make their nests in the middle of the lake. The reason they are successful is because no other animal can occupy this niche. Why? because it is a highly corrosive and aggressive enviroment.
It is not important to survival to be inconspicuous. Nothing can basically touch them (unless they stray to close to the shore and a baboon gabs them - I thought they showed it in life of mammals, but I could be wrong).
skyederman
Registered Senior Member
I've seen them being hunted in a nature show before though.
Being bright pink wouldn't make much of a difference because it's hard to miss thousands of large birds standing in a lake.
Being bright pink wouldn't make much of a difference because it's hard to miss thousands of large birds standing in a lake.
Predators.
1. Most flamingo predators are other species of birds.
a. The lesser flamingo's eggs and chicks are preyed upon by several birds.
(1) The lappet-faced and white-headed vultures feed on eggs, young flamingos, and dead flamingos.
(2) The Egyptian vulture feeds mostly on flamingo eggs. This bird has also been observed dropping and destroying eggs that it does not eat.
(3) The Marabou stork and tawny eagle prey on flamingo eggs and chicks.
(4) The black kite, a scavenger, feeds on flamingo carcasses left behind by other birds and land animals.
b. The greater flamingo's eggs and chicks are prey for the Marabou stork.
2. Remote breeding grounds make it difficult for terrestrial predators to feed regularly on flamingos. Land predators will, however, enter the flamingo breeding grounds when water levels are low. These predators vary according to the species of flamingo and environment in which the flamingo lives.
a. The lesser flamingo is preyed upon by lions, leopards, cheetahs, and jackals. Pythons have also been known to attack flamingos.
b. The Andean flamingo is preyed upon by the Andean fox and Geoffrey's cat.
c. In Africa, hyenas will enter a flamingo's environment when the ground is dry and can hold the animals' weight. Hyenas cause more panic among the birds than actual mortalities.
d. Records indicate that bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, foxes, minks, and dogs have killed flamingos in zoological environments.
e. On Great Inagua Island, in the Bahamas, feral pigs prey on flamingos.
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Flamingos/fdeath.html
1. Most flamingo predators are other species of birds.
a. The lesser flamingo's eggs and chicks are preyed upon by several birds.
(1) The lappet-faced and white-headed vultures feed on eggs, young flamingos, and dead flamingos.
(2) The Egyptian vulture feeds mostly on flamingo eggs. This bird has also been observed dropping and destroying eggs that it does not eat.
(3) The Marabou stork and tawny eagle prey on flamingo eggs and chicks.
(4) The black kite, a scavenger, feeds on flamingo carcasses left behind by other birds and land animals.
b. The greater flamingo's eggs and chicks are prey for the Marabou stork.
2. Remote breeding grounds make it difficult for terrestrial predators to feed regularly on flamingos. Land predators will, however, enter the flamingo breeding grounds when water levels are low. These predators vary according to the species of flamingo and environment in which the flamingo lives.
a. The lesser flamingo is preyed upon by lions, leopards, cheetahs, and jackals. Pythons have also been known to attack flamingos.
b. The Andean flamingo is preyed upon by the Andean fox and Geoffrey's cat.
c. In Africa, hyenas will enter a flamingo's environment when the ground is dry and can hold the animals' weight. Hyenas cause more panic among the birds than actual mortalities.
d. Records indicate that bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, foxes, minks, and dogs have killed flamingos in zoological environments.
e. On Great Inagua Island, in the Bahamas, feral pigs prey on flamingos.
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Flamingos/fdeath.html