Flamingos: pink is on the lunch menu

Flamingos do not hatch wearing their famous pink plumage: chicks have white and grey down. The colour comes from carotenoids, pigments found in the algae and small crustaceans they eat. Their bodies process these pigments, giving their feathers their distinctive shades. [1]

To feed, they hold their bills upside down in the water and filter it, trapping food with tiny comb-like structures. The menu varies between species: some collect finer particles, while others eat mainly small invertebrates. An ingenious way to shop for lunch and a wardrobe in one trip. [2]