Flamingos are one of the most recognizable birds in the world. These graceful birds have curved bills and a video of them eating underwater went viral after it was posted by the San Diego Zoo. The video was posted to help educate people about how these beautiful birds eat and it has people all around the world completely transfixed. To take the video, zoo officials placed an underwater camera inside the flamingo feeding pool. You can see them dipping their hooked bills down to skim the bottom of the pool. The zoo explained that these birds naturally eat underneath the water and with their bills nearly upside down.
To eat, the flamingos’ bills suck in the water around them. Then that water passes through lamellae, which are briny plates. The lamellae filter the water for yummy treats like brine flies, shrimp, algae, and other small marine life. The tiny food gets trapped in the birds’ mouths to be consumed as their meal. Remarkably, the mud, water, and debris filters out the side of their bills. Meanwhile, the motion of the birds’ tongues powers the feeding filtration system. In their post, the zoo wittingly said, “Everybirdy loves seafood!” in a pun that was a delightful play on words.
To feed the birds, the zoo uses a special nutrient-rich diet of pellets, not actual sea creatures. When the pellets are scattered in the water, the birds eat it just as they would if they were living in the wild. The carotenoid pigments that are found in a flamingo’s natural food, which is what makes them so beautifully pink, have to be replicated in their pellets so that they’ll continue to have their signature pink feathers and plumage.
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In the video below, you can watch the unique and unusual way these amazing birds eat.