Photo by LesPalenik/Shutterstock.com

When you think about the pink fowl, your mind probably wonders to thoughts of peace, tranquility, and majesty. But flamingos have an edge to them, and sometimes it comes out in physical fights between the birds.

When humans fight, they generally utilize their hands and arms to subdue and conquer their opponent. Legs are also a common tool humans include in combat. Flamingos don’t have the same weapons at their disposal, so they’re left to use their bills like pincers to attack their rivals.

This leads to some mildly interesting altercations for us humans to watch. As a living being that has never been a flamingo, I can’t tell you how much damage is caused by one of these snips landing on the intended target. But I can tell you that they don’t look like they’d been too much fun to experience.

Check out these flamingo heavyweights duke it out in these fights that were caught on tape, and remember to be kind next time you’re around a flamingo, lest you welcome the wrath of their vicious right hook.

Flamingo Fights Caught On Tape

Busch Gardens Bout

Some flamingos at Busch Gardens didn’t take kindly to others encroaching on their nesting space, so they had to let ‘em know what’s up. It’s a flamingo-eat-flamingo world, even in captivity.

Dutch Donnybrook

It’s unclear what set these two flamingos off in Utrecht, Netherlands, but something clearly got them pretty heated. These two meant business.

Sea World Scuffle

This one feels like a blood feud. This wasn’t the first time these flamingos fought, and it wasn’t the last. The bystanders were very respectful of the camera, ducking down to ensure the cameraperson could keep the fight in view. We appreciate the thoughtfulness from the flamingos around the fight.

All-Out Flamingo Brawl

This one isn’t just a one-on-one - we’ve got multiple flamingos going at it in this fight. First, there’s a standoff where they’re presumably hurling horrible insults towards each other’s mothers. That eventually boils over into a full-on brawl.

Those body bites really look like they hurt!

Calm Surrounds Chaos

While these two flamingos hold absolutely nothing back while going at each other, many other flamingos mind their own business as if nothing insane is occurring just feet from them. In particular, note the flamingos who appear at 0:37 and 0:44, who couldn’t be less bothered by what’s going on to their right and left. They’re just minding their own business, and I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to get in the middle of whatever those two flamingos are fighting about.

I don’t know exactly where this took place, but if I told you it happened in New York, would you be surprised?

She’s Mine!

The flamingos featured in this fight could not be reached for comment, so I made up my own narrative for what set them off. These are both young, adolescent flamingo males who both have their eyes set on the same female flamingo. In their hormonal states, they don’t know what to do with the pent up energy and decide to take their feelings out on one another, because they don’t yet grasp that it’s up to them, anyway.

Like two 15 year olds meeting behind the school after the final bell, these flamingos have an intense, short fight that ends quickly after one realizes it’s greatly outmatched and runs away as fast as possible.