Wild Things: Life as We Know It
Flamingos, T. rex Tails, Burmese monkeys and more...
- By Amanda Bensen, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Jess Righthand and Sarah Zielinski
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2011
Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus) cleaning its plumage (Michael Weber / Imagebroker / FLPA)
A flamingo's pink color comes from pigments concentrated in the brine shrimp and other foods it eats. How does a flamingo attract a mate after its feathers fade? Cosmetics, according to a study in Spain. Males and females secrete pigments from a gland near the tail, and they rub the secretions on their feathers, brightening their color during breeding season. Once a flamingo has found a mate, it spends less time applying makeup.
Learn more about the greater flamingo at the Encyclopedia of Life.
Additional Sources
"Greater flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus use uropygial secretions as make-up," Juan A. Amat et al., Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, October 23, 2010
"An indigenous religious ritual selects for resistance to a toxicant in a livebearing fish," M. Tobler et al., Biology Letters, September 8, 2010
"Mutualistic mycorrhiza-like symbiosis in the most ancient group of land plants," Claire P. Humphreys et al., Nature Communications, November 2, 2010
"A New Species of Snub-Nosed Monkey, Genus Rhinopithecus Milne-Edwards, 1872 (Primates, Colobinae), From Northern Kachin State, Northeastern Myanmar," Thomas Geissmann et al., American Journal of Primatology, October 27, 2010
"The Tail of Tyrannosaurus: Reassessing the Size and Locomotive Importance of the M. caudofemoralis in Non-Avian Theropods," W. Scott Persons IV and Philip J. Currie, The Anatomical Record, November 12, 2010
Comments (1)
It's interesting how this can happen so fast.
Posted by Connerd on February 7,2011 | 06:35 PM