Did you ever wonder what makes pink flamingos pink? Pink flamingos are found in a lot of places in the world, not just Florida lawns and zoos. The birds in this picture are in the Galapagos islands.
Why are these birds standing on one leg? It has to do with thermoregulation. They loose heat standing in the water (conduction). The other leg is tucked up close to it's body to minimize heat loss. What are they all standing in the same direction? They always stand facing into the wind so cool air doesn't ruffle their feathers (convection).
Look at this animation to see what's going inside the leg of this bird to minimize heat loss.
counter current heat exchange
Here's the link to the hyperthermia video some of you saw in class today.
hyperthermia
3 comments:
i'm pretty sure flamingoes are pink because of the shrimp and food they eat, or at least that's what i read somewhere sometime.
Yes absolutely! But they don't each big old cocktail shrimp. They stomp around and turn up the muck that they are standing in. They then strain the water for tiny stuff, little arthropods. They are high in beta carotene, an orange compound. They are light orange aka pink!
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