tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/flamingos-33285/articles
Flamingos – The Conversation
2023-03-08T13:54:30Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200962
2023-03-08T13:54:30Z
2023-03-08T13:54:30Z
How we discovered flamingos form cliques, just like humans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513633/original/file-20230306-16-uiuvs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C91%2C8622%2C5657&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flamingo-neck-twisting-wing-feathers-1699918756">Brendt A Petersen/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As social animals we have an innate understanding of the joy a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/201710/why-do-we-need-friends-six-benefits-healthy-friendships">good friendship</a> can bring. So it’s unsurprising humans delight in seeing such closeness between animals. We can see ourselves reflected in the behaviour of cuddling chimpanzees, but a new wave of research is showing less relatable animals have pals too. </p>
<p>Our team’s new research found that while flamingos appear to live in a very different world to humans, they form cliques much like human ones. Like us, flamingos have a need to be social, are long lived (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25976523">sometimes into their 80s</a>) and form enduring friendships. Paul Rose’s previous work indicates captive flamingos are as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635719303377">picky about their friends</a> as we are. They spend their time with preferred companions and depend on them for support during squabbles with rivals. </p>
<p>A flamingo’s inner circle can include their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635717305533?via%3Dihub">breeding partner plus several friends</a>. Flamingos will form both platonic and maybe even sexual bonds with birds of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159117300941?via%3Dihub">same sex and can form mixed sexed trios and quartets</a>. These relationships can last for <a href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/diaries/flamingo-diary/ten-years-of-flamingo-friends">decades</a>. </p>
<p>Wise humans know you can’t be friends with everyone. Paul was keen to learn why the flamingos formed friendships with some birds but not others. Animals choose their companions according to all sort of rules. Some of them do it by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-004-1796-8">body length</a>, for example guppies, others by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347299910837">age</a>, such as in albatrosses. <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2010.0216">Personality impacts friend choice</a> in many <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513813000925">species</a> such as chimpanzees (and, of course, <a href="https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdep.12246">humans</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="pink flamingos during a brilliant sunset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513638/original/file-20230306-15-pysq7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flamingos form cliques too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pink-flamingos-during-brilliant-sunset-1060482575">jdross75/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Throughout his project studying long term flamingo friendships, Paul noticed flamingos living on Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserves (and indeed those that <a href="https://wildfowl.wwt.org.uk/index.php/wildfowl/article/view/2691">live in zoos</a>) formed cliques not unlike children in a playground. There were the popular kids, the bullies, the quiet ones in the corner… always the same birds and nearly always together. This provided a perfect opportunity to test if these personality cues might help explain how flamingos find their friendship groups. </p>
<p>Fionnuala McCully was recruited to address this question as part of her masters in animal behaviour. She set about documenting the dramatic lives of the Chilean and Caribbean flamingos housed at <a href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge">WWT Slimbridge</a>in Gloucestershire, south-west England. Each bird carried a leg ring with a unique code, which she used to tell them apart and establish who was spending time with who. Working out these friendship groups took a lot of observation – four months to be exact. </p>
<p>By scrutinising the birds’ behaviour over the days and months, Fionnuala built a personality profile for every flamingo in each flock. Aggressive birds would often be spotted intimidating their flock mates, while submissive birds avoided conflict. Then, we used a technique called <a href="https://academic.oup.com/biohorizons/article/2/1/32/218732">social network analysis</a> to investigate the relationships within each flock, and whether personality could explain the friendships. </p>
<p>The answer was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-29315-3">yes</a>. The flamingos in both flocks tended to have friends who where similar in personality. In the Caribbean flock, the importance of personality ran deeper. Aggressive, outgoing birds had more friends compared to quieter flockmates. These confident cliques also spent more time in each other’s company than less outgoing groups. Caribbean flamingos were more willing to start fights and enter a fray to defend their friends. In contrast, there was no evidence to suggest outgoing Chilean flamingos had more friends, nor were they more willing to aid their buddies during rows. This shows that what is true for one species may not be true for the others, even when they are closely related. Caribbean and Chilean flamingos, for example, both have the same body structure and foraging behaviour.</p>
<p>Our work demonstrates how flamingos need space and time to choose and maintain their own friendships. When a flock is large enough for all different personality types to be represented, each flamingo has the opportunity to find a social partner of its liking. Keeping flamingos within the same flock across several breeding seasons helps them work out “who is who” and get better at forming compatible relationships once they have worked out the social dimensions of the group. Flamingo breeding is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/zoo.21753">a numbers game</a> - the more birds, the greater the chance of success. So understanding choosy flamingo friendships can help staff take good care of captive flamingos and manage populations.</p>
<p>As behaviour scientists, we are discouraged from comparing animals directly to humans as it can increase the risk of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/428606a">biasing our work with human values</a>. But sometimes we can’t help ourselves. For example, the king and queen of the Caribbean flock were a particularly outgoing mated pair who Fionnuala affectionately nicknamed “the Beckhams”. </p>
<p>More and more studies are revealing the complexity of animals’ social lives, which makes it harder to ignore our reflections in research findings. Using human behaviour as a blueprint might give us valuable clues into what animals need to be happy. This is applied more easily to some species (such as primates) than others. However it is critical that science doesn’t neglect the social needs of animals simply because they are considered less “clever” or “relatable” than other species in the zoo. If humans require friendships to be happy, is it really such a great leap to think that flamingos might need the same?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200962/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Rose works for The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) as a research scientist and manager of WWT's Animal Welfare & Ethics Committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fionnuala McCully does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It’s endearing to think of these glamorous pink birds finding the friendship group they fit into. But navigating flamingo social lives can help with conservation too.
Fionnuala McCully, PhD candidate in behavioural ecology, University of Liverpool
Paul Rose, Lecturer, University of Exeter
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/78231
2017-05-24T11:49:38Z
2017-05-24T11:49:38Z
Scientists balanced a dead flamingo on one leg to unlock the bird’s standing secret
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170786/original/file-20170524-31322-1r0so40.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/bvpWQI8Xb0k">Gaetano Cessati/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Flamingos can stand on one leg for far longer than humans can. They can even do it while asleep. Now scientists have shed some more light on just how these pink birds manage such a balancing act without getting tired.</p>
<p>The researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/13/5/20160948">focused on</a> one of the main theories used to explain this behaviour, the muscle fatigue hypothesis. The more a muscle is used, the more likely it is to become tired and so most animals standing on one leg need to regularly switch. But flamingos can use one leg for much longer periods of time <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/zoo.20266/full">without needing to switch</a>. So the theory is that the leg holding them up doesn’t get fatigued.</p>
<p>The two scientists wanted to test if it was possible for flamingos to remain stable on only one leg without the need for active muscular effort. To see if a flamingo could do this, they used a novel method involving two dead flamingos, obtained from a local zoo.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170790/original/file-20170524-31339-15kxa1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Go on, push me. I dare you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The researchers positioned the bodies on one leg using clamps and measured how well each cadaver could hold its body weight and maintain balance. They also dissected the leg structures to see if muscle control was used when the birds were stood on one leg. And they collected information from living flamingos to see how much body sway was affected by how many legs the birds stood on.</p>
<p>They not only found that a flamingo could support its body weight passively (with no need for muscular activity) on one leg, but also that it was impossible for the bird to hold a stable, balanced position on two legs. They concluded that a flamingo standing on two legs uses more muscular energy to maintain a steady posture.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KW8GX2n4qbY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>So why is a one-legged posture more efficient, and why does it use no active muscular movement? Apparently, it is down to the weight of the bird itself. When a flamingo is standing on one leg, its bodyweight forces the joints in its leg into a fixed arrangement. By moving the dead flamingo, the scientists noticed that there must be a group of muscles and ligaments that lock into place (known as a stay apparatus) in the proximal (near centre) part of the limb.</p>
<p>This stay apparatus resists certain types of movement and keeps the flamingo stable, without the need for it to use leg muscles to keep balanced. The efficient balancing action is only possible when the bird’s foot is placed directly below its body, the position the birds naturally adopt. This actually becomes even easier when the flamingo is asleep because it moves less and so there is less variation in the centre of pressure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170791/original/file-20170524-31324-9mieiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On balance, this seems like a good way to keep warm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>This is the first evidence of a passive, gravity-driven bodyweight support mechanism in a bird’s proximal leg joints. That means the bird supports itself without conscious effort because of the anatomy of the joints in its leg. What they cannot demonstrate is any other explanation as to why a sleeping, unipedal flamingo should benefit from being so stable and secure based on their behaviour. This requires further investigation. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-1716.1965.tb04067.x/full">research has shown</a> that birds can lose a significant amount of heat through their legs and this can help them maintain the right body temperature. Even more heat escapes if the birds are stood in water (as flamingos often are) and so being able to easily stand on one leg would help to reduce the amount of heat lost. This would be particularly beneficial for those flamingos <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-planet-earths-ice-skating-flamingos-collectively-get-in-the-mood-for-sex-68784">who live in cold climates</a> and areas where water temperature is close to, or below, freezing. </p>
<p>The heat loss theory is plausible and makes sense, but is probably supported by the muscular activity hypothesis, too. What is clear is that flamingos, as familiar and fascinating as they are, still challenge our understanding of their physiology, biology and evolutionary history. Many birds stand on one leg but the flamingos’ balancing act may appear more noticeable because they are such strikingly shaped and coloured animals, which adds to their sense of being weird and wonderful. So the debate about exactly why they stand on one leg is sure to continue well in to the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Rose is affiliated with the University of Exeter and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.</span></em></p>
New research reveals how flamingos can stand – and even sleep – on one leg for so long.
Paul Rose, Associate Fellow, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/78160
2017-05-23T23:02:18Z
2017-05-23T23:02:18Z
Neuromechanics of flamingos’ amazing feats of balance
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170575/original/file-20170523-5757-17baeqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do they do while sleeping what we can barely do at all?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fuchales/15996245472">Carlos Bustamante Restrepo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve watched flamingos at the zoo – or if you’re lucky, in the wild – you’ve likely wondered how flamingos manage to sleep standing on one leg.</p>
<p>Of course, as humans, we think standing on one leg is hard because it’s difficult for us. Tree pose in yoga becomes increasingly difficult as you lift your leg higher, reach your arms up and tilt your head. It becomes almost impossible if you close your eyes. Most of us wobble and sway, then put a foot down, and shake out the leg we were standing on.</p>
<p>As scientists, the two of us are interested in how the brain controls the body – a field we call neuromechanics, at the intersection of biomechanics and neuroscience. Our latest research question: <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0948">Just how do flamingos stand on one leg?</a> Our search brought us up close and personal with a flock of juvenile flamingos and even flamingo skeletons and cadavers to figure out how they achieve their amazing feats of balance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170577/original/file-20170523-5757-1t89ei2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why they stand on one leg is a mystery, let alone how.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stacey-family/14193955093">Dustin and Jennifer Stacey</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Passive or active stabilization?</h2>
<p>When we searched the literature, we didn’t find any reports on how these iconic birds do it, but there were several theories about why they stand on one leg.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170615/original/file-20170523-5763-k87ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bulk of a flamingo’s mass sits half a meter above the ground, on a single, slender leg.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chang and Ting, Biology Letters</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Some people thought it was to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20266">conserve body heat</a> lost by standing in cold water. Standing on one leg would presumably cut the energy lost to heat in half.</p>
<p>Another hypothesis is that standing on one leg <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/4511925">reduces muscle fatigue</a> by giving one leg a rest while the other supports the body. This theory is based on the idea that standing on two legs is more fatiguing than standing alternately on one leg and then the other, but no one has ever directly tested that.</p>
<p>A large proportion of the metabolic energy any animal expends is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7793.2001.0393i.x">due to activating muscles</a> as they stand up against gravity and control movement. If there were an added energetic cost for standing on one leg, it would not make much sense for flamingos to save on thermal energy loss only to lose on muscular energy expenditure. And if it was fatiguing for flamingos to stand on one leg, why would they switch between one leg and the other instead of standing on two legs?</p>
<p>When you stand in line at the grocery store, you don’t stand with your knees bent – that would require you to expend a huge amount of energy to activate your leg muscles. Imagine holding a squat posture with your thigh horizontal and your knee at a right angle – you’d quickly feel the burn. Flamingo legs (like other birds) are constantly in a state of “bent knees,” so there is the potential for large muscular energy expenditure, or muscular effort, necessary to support their body weight.</p>
<p>Many animals have evolved ways of moving that minimize the amount of energy they expend, whether it’s the pendular mechanics of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35050167">penguins waddling</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1088">gibbons swinging</a> through the trees or the <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/content/197/1/251.short">bouncing mechanics</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1919412">of cockroaches</a>. </p>
<p>Other animals, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1469-7580.2003.00166.x">such as horses</a>, have evolved passive stabilizing mechanisms to allow them to sleep while standing. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000147544">Hanging bats</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.1714">perching birds</a> have evolved passive mechanisms for grasping that allow them to sleep without fear of losing their grip.</p>
<p>We set out to find whether flamingos relied mostly on passive biomechanics or active nervous system interventions to stand on one leg.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170592/original/file-20170523-5757-wsu3is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corralling the flamingo study subjects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lena Ting</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Examining flamingos, both alive and dead</h2>
<p>One way scientists study balance is to have people or animals stand on a device called a force plate that measures the forces they apply to the ground. It works like a fancy <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.07.010">Wii Balance Board</a>. From these measurements, we can compute “postural sway” – the constant motion of the body when standing on one, two or even four limbs. </p>
<p>We don’t see postural sway in structures that are mechanically stable, like a table. </p>
<p>Although standing balance is something we as humans take for granted, it is actually a very active process. The nervous system constantly senses the motion of the body as it stands and makes corrections by activating muscles. The amount of postural sway is an indirect indicator of that nervous system activity. We typically don’t notice these small movements unless something is wrong with our balance. Think about closing your eyes on a moving surface, or standing when you’re dizzy. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aca1msyGg3A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Measuring postural sway as a young flamingo stands on a force plate.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our measurements, we found that juvenile flamingos from Zoo Atlanta had remarkably little postural sway as they were falling asleep while standing on one leg. When they were awake, and grooming or jousting with their buddies, while standing on one leg, their speed of the postural sway increased up to seven times.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170609/original/file-20170523-5749-fathy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A visualization of the center of pressure (CoP) displacement and velocity underneath a flamingo’s foot as it stood on the force plate. There was very little displacement while the bird had its eyes closed, a bit more while alert and still, and even more while alert and moving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0948">Chang and Ting, Biology Letters</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How was this happening? We turned to anatomical reports and skeletons of flamingos to see if we could find evidence of biomechanical stabilizing mechanisms that help flamingos easily stand on one leg. Finding no clear demonstrations, we decided that we needed to do our own study of flamingo morphology – that is, the bird’s structural features, and how they function together.</p>
<p>While the actual mechanism is still unclear, we made an unanticipated discovery from a flamingo cadaver. If you hold it up by one leg like a lollipop at just the right angle, it passively adopts a body configuration that looks like a flamingo standing on one leg. When we tilted the body forward and backward by up to 45 degrees, the body configuration was stable, with the knee keeping a right angle. When we tried to manipulate the body, we found that the joints were quite stable in resisting the pull of gravity, but that the joints could be easily moved in the other direction. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170616/original/file-20170523-5777-yjaxd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even in flamingo cadavers, the leg joints were very stable when tilted forward and backward.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chang and Ting, Biology Letters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gravity plus anatomy do the job</h2>
<p><a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0948">Our findings show</a> that gravity, along with specializations in flamingo anatomy, plays an important role in helping the animals stay stable on one leg without locking their joints, which may allow them to escape rapidly if necessary. The angle of the cadaver leg when viewed from the front resembled the inward tilt we observe when the live animals are standing on one leg. When the leg was angled inward (viewed from the front) like a one-legged pose, the joints became very stable. If we held the cadaver leg more upright – that is, more vertical when viewed from the front, resembling the posture when flamingos stand on two legs – the body was no longer stable. Since muscles aren’t active in a deceased animal, we interpreted this to mean that muscles must be activated for a flamingo to maintain a two-legged, but not a one-legged, posture. </p>
<p>Before our investigation, we might have assumed that it required a lot of muscle energy for a flamingo to stand on one leg. But apparently it doesn’t. They can easily and for long periods hold what for us would quickly become a very uncomfortable squat pose – without using their muscles much at all.</p>
<p>Why do we care? This study was a fun inquiry that revealed how different standing on one leg is for a flamingo compared to a person. As scientists, it’s rewarding to study the wonders of nature and to see how physics and biology are intertwined in the behavior of animals. Still, there are practical lessons that can be learned. Engineered systems with motorized joints and legs, such as some prosthetic devices and humanoid robots, expend quite a lot of energy just to stand up. Perhaps using some principles of flamingo balance could help to design more stable, yet agile and efficient, prostheses and robots.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78160/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
These birds spend long periods, often asleep, standing on one leg. Is it passive biomechanics or active nervous system control of their muscles that allows them to do easily what’s impossible for us?
Lena Ting, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy, Emory University
Young-Hui Chang, Professor of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70817
2017-01-05T14:32:51Z
2017-01-05T14:32:51Z
Africa’s most toxic lakes are a paradise for fearless flamingos
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151839/original/image-20170105-18659-ut1vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">matthieu Gallet / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world’s most seemingly-toxic lakes are under threat. And they are also home to one of our most familiar birds: the flamingo.</p>
<p>All flamingo species have evolved to live in some of the planet’s most extreme wetlands, like caustic “soda lakes”, hypersaline lagoons or high-altitude salt flats. </p>
<p>One species, the <a href="http://www.arkive.org/lesser-flamingo/phoeniconaias-minor/">lesser flamingo</a>, has taken this relationship to the limit. Most are found in super-alkaline lakes throughout Africa’s Great Rift Valley, which host immense blooms of microscopic blue-green algae (called cyanobacteria). These <a href="http://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-5-6">poisonous plants</a> produce chemicals that, in most animals, can fatally damage cells, the nervous system, and the liver. The lesser flamingo, however, can consume <a href="http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/11/thousands-of-pink-flamingos-at-lake.html">enormous amounts</a> with no ill effects (unless you count their <a href="http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-flamingo-phoeniconaias-minor/text">colourful plumage</a>, which comes from a pigment in the algae).</p>
<h2>Birds in paradise</h2>
<p>Two of the lesser flamingo’s preferred habitats, Lake Bogoria in Kenya and Lake Natron in Tanzania, are hypersaline and hostile to practically all other forms of life (Natron water can even <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-planet-earths-ice-skating-flamingos-collectively-get-in-the-mood-for-sex-68784">strip away human skin</a>). </p>
<p>For the flamingos this a bonus. Special tough skin and scales on their legs prevent burns, and they can drink water at near boiling point to collect freshwater from springs and geysers at lake edges. If no freshwater is available, flamingos can use glands in their head that remove salt, draining it out from their nasal cavity. </p>
<p>With few other animals able to cope in such conditions, there is minimal competition for food, and these toxic wetlands are home to massive flocks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151846/original/image-20170105-18641-rcy0zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feeding time on Lake Boringa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GUDKOV ANDREY / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Million-strong gatherings provide several benefits. Mass <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-planet-earths-ice-skating-flamingos-collectively-get-in-the-mood-for-sex-68784">synchronised nesting</a> gives flamingos the best possible chance to raise the maximum number of chicks, while on choppy days a dense mass of birds swimming together also helps create the <a href="http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-flamingo-phoeniconaias-minor/text">optimal feeding environment</a> (still water) within the centre of the group. Sheer numbers also make it harder for predators like hyenas or jackals to identify individual victims.</p>
<p>As such, a single flamingo is not a happy flamingo. The species is happiest in huge gatherings, and these won’t occur around any old lake – the lesser flamingo specifically needs its toxic, salty paradise. </p>
<p>But these places are rare. Across the six flamingo species there are only 30 or so regularly used breeding sites worldwide and, while the global population of <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697369/0">around 3.2m lesser flamingos</a> is impressive, it is largely reliant on a few huge groups (<a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijbd/2014/295362/">about 75%</a> nest at Lake Natron alone). What if something happens to one of their highly-specialised breeding sites?</p>
<p>Unlike many other species that can still breed in smaller populations as their habitats become damaged, these birds cannot easily survive in small groups. Having evolved in such a hostile environment with few rivals, they would have trouble adapting to a more competitive lifestyle elsewhere. With most of their eggs in one toxic basket, the lesser flamingo is unusually vulnerable for a species with millions of individuals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151850/original/image-20170105-18665-xlh6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lesser flamingos’ Latin name <em>Phoeniconaias minor</em> means ‘little crimson water nymph’, an apt description of their dancing, ballet-style moves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steffen Foerster / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, the number of lesser flamingos in the wild is already decreasing each year. And humans are to blame. Wetland habitats have been polluted by agricultural chemicals and sewage, feeding and breeding grounds have been disturbed, and declining algal blooms mean some populations are <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2010.00915.x/full">starving to death</a>.</p>
<p>Even a diet of toxic algae can’t save flamingos from ecological disturbances. If humans take too much water from a lake, or climate change causes excess evaporation, then salinity levels will become unstable. Populations of cyanobacteria can explode and the birds end up <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988305001101">consuming new species</a> which can poison them and cause <a href="http://www.saltworkconsultants.com/blog/lake-nakuru-life-response-to-feast-and-famine-in-schizohaline-lacustrine-hydrologies">mass deaths</a>.</p>
<h2>Soda ash mining threatens the entire species</h2>
<p>Attempts to extract sodium carbonate (a useful industrial material known as soda ash) from Lake Natron represents another danger. Mining would disturb the birds, who like privacy when breeding and tend to nest far from shore, on remote islands that have been isolated by flooding. It would also make the water more choppy, affecting their food gathering. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151657/original/image-20170103-29222-1rjc83f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The same algae that gives flamingos their colour sometimes turns Lake Natron red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given how slow flamingos are at adapting and changing to new nesting areas, any Natron development must be avoided. Anthropogenic disturbances have previously caused lesser flamingos to <a href="http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/PDF/pub07_waterbirds_part3.4.5.pdf">abandon suitable breeding sites</a>, and back in 1993, polluted water in Lake Bogoria and nearby Nakuru killed more than <a href="http://www.worldlakes.org/uploads/18_Lake_Nakuru_27February2006.pdf">20,000 lesser flamingos</a> – the first of a series of recurring deaths.</p>
<p>The latest mining proposal has been withdrawn but such developments <a href="http://africageographic.com/blog/tanzania-mine-worlds-important-flamingo-breeding-ground/">haven’t been completely shelved</a>. Conservation groups <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/our-positions-and-campaigns/campaigning-for-nature/casework/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-228219">remain alert</a>. Monitoring and protecting the population at Lake Natron is the top priority for lesser flamingo conservation, according to a <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697369/0">recent assessment</a> by BirdLife International. Large-scale soda ash extraction, the report says, would be “disastrous for the species” and could see the flamingos become officially “vulnerable” or even “endangered”.</p>
<p>The importance of these unique, and apparently hostile, wetlands is clear to see. Life in the Rift Valley lakes is a delicate balance. And it is clear that we are already harming these unique and fragile ecosystems. If humans were to cause drastic changes, their spectacular pink inhabitants would vanish forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Rose is a WWT / University of Exeter PhD student. He is affiliated with the IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group. WWT coordinates the Conservation Action Plan for the lesser flamingo. </span></em></p>
Millions of birds breed in lakes so alkaline they can burn human skin.
Paul Rose, Associate Fellow, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/68784
2016-11-15T15:02:36Z
2016-11-15T15:02:36Z
How Planet Earth’s ice-skating flamingos collectively get ‘in the mood’ for sex
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146040/original/image-20161115-31126-p73vqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC NHU/© Justin Anderson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 1980 animated feature film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078780/">Animalympics</a> featured an ice-skating flamingo who competed for gold against a whole range of other sporting animals. In the second edition of BBC nature programme Planet Earth II, this cartoon seemed to have turned into reality. Sort of. The flocks of flamingos filmed high in the Andes Mountains were certainly skating along on their frozen pools, though they didn’t quite provide a medal-winning performance. </p>
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<p>For a bird as fragile-looking as the flamingo, this bleak, icy wetland would seem a strange place to call home. Yet many of them do, and Planet Earth features two of my favourite species: the Andean flamingo (<em>Phoenicoparrus andinus</em>) and the James’ flamingo (<em>P. jamesi</em>), also known as the <em>puna</em> flamingo, after the local term for these high plateaus. The Andean is the rarest of the six flamingo species, with <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697387/0">fewer than 40,000</a> remaining in the wild. </p>
<p>Their movements and breeding cycles are hard to predict and tricky to study. So vast is the Andes plateau that the James’ flamingo was considered extinct until 1956 when it was suddenly rediscovered in Bolivia’s remote Laguna Colorada (Red Lake), 4,000 metres above sea level. Flamingos do a good disappearing act; whole flocks will vanish overnight as they travel between mountain lakes searching for the best food supply.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146070/original/image-20161115-31135-1hv0h75.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author studies the social lives of these Andean flamingos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Rose</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Flamingos thrive in inhospitable conditions</h2>
<p>Flamingos are often associated with tropical beaches, palm trees and piña coladas. But this is far from the truth. All six species are highly adapted to living in inhospitable and unfriendly environments such as very salty or very alkaline wetlands. More than a million <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/africa/projects/lake-natron-tanzania">lesser flamingos</a> breed in Tanzania’s Lake Natron, for instance, a lake fed by hot springs with water so alkaline that it can strip away human skin (one pioneering flamingo researcher named <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/mystery-flamingos-Leslie-Brown/dp/B0000CKJ6O">Leslie Brown</a> spent months in Nairobi General Hospital after burning his legs wading out to observe where the birds nested).</p>
<p>Yet flamingos thrive in conditions like these. And they thrive because, in each location, they have discovered an untapped food source they can collect with little competition from other species.</p>
<p>Flamingos have very specialised diets. And their food is responsible for their famous pink colouration. The two species in Planet Earth II eat a lot of floating microscopic algae, which contains <a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/27/tracing-the-roots-of-beautiful-bird-hues/">carotenoid pigments</a>, the same types of chemical that make carrots orange. These pigments turn their feathers pink, orange and red – without them, flamingos would be white. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145886/original/image-20161114-5101-sdzwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The black feathers are fully revealed once the flamingo unfurls its wings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Galyna Andrushko / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The only feathers on the birds that do not get stained pink are their black wing feathers. Flamingos are heavy birds and black primary feathers are more resistant to wear-and-tear.</p>
<h2>Flamingos do everything together – even breeding</h2>
<p>As the wetlands in which they find their carotenoid pigments are few and far between, flamingos really do have to bump along in a crowd. But they have used this restriction on habitat choice to their advantage. Evolution has moulded them into a highly gregarious species, and the organised society that flamingos live in is integral to their whole way of life. </p>
<p>This even extends to reproduction. To feel comfortable enough to breed, as many birds as possible need to be “in the mood” at once. The wonderful footage of the Andean flamingos promenading across your TV screen is part of getting everyone <a href="http://wildfowl.wwt.org.uk/index.php/wildfowl/article/view/1029">focused on reproduction</a>.</p>
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<p>It takes a lot of time and effort to rear a flamingo chick, and success is greatest if the whole flock breeds as one. Because environmental conditions are not always perfect, flamingos will delay breeding until they feel it is worth the effort. </p>
<p>And if this is your reproductive strategy then you need to live for quite a while. Flamingos take this to extremes. The world’s oldest bird, a greater flamingo (<em>Phoenicopterus roseus</em>) died in Adelaide Zoo in 2014 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/31/worlds-oldest-flamingo-dies-adelaide-zoo">aged 83</a>, and wild flamingos have been clocked <a href="http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/26/message-from-a-50-year-old-flamingo/">into their fifties</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146063/original/image-20161115-31123-1cr5vq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andean flamingo at Slimbridge, 1961. Many of this first group are still alive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/news/all-news/2016/07/wwt-slimbridge-diaries/wwt-slimbridge-diaries-flamingo-diary/some-very-special-birthdays/">WWT</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Andean flamingos I study at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, have been around since the 1960s and are <a href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/news/all-news/2016/07/wwt-slimbridge-diaries/wwt-slimbridge-diaries-flamingo-diary/some-very-special-birthdays/">still going strong</a>. The birds are all ringed so I am able to tell them apart and identify the real characters in the group. I’m fascinated by the soap opera of their individual social lives and have made this the key focus of <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/researcher/paulrose/">my research</a>. </p>
<p>The combination of erratic, collective reproduction and long lifespans has served flamingos well for many years. But the birds cannot always cope with human-caused changes to climate, alterations to wetland systems, and encroachment into their feeding and breeding areas. Some populations are <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697365/0">in decline</a> and their unique breeding cycle means <a href="http://www.amnh.org/our-research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/research-and-conservation/species-based-research/birds/flamingos-in-the-americas/">recovery</a> will be a long, slow process at best.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Rose is a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust PhD researcher from the University of Exeter. </span></em></p>
How and why these bizarre stars of Planet Earth II ended up living in icy lakes high in the Andes mountains.
Paul Rose, Associate Fellow, Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.