How Do Flamingos Protect Themselves?

Photo by JaneRix/Shutterstock.com

Like the rest of the animal kingdom, flamingos have threats that they must protect themselves from. Predators are the historic enemy. Human activity and development are the modern ones.

The world’s climate is changing, and all living things are having to deal with a new global standard. Flamingos are no exception. They must protect themselves from the present and future dangers of rising sea levels, lake evaporation, and evolving rainfall patterns. Plus, any animal out there that wants the taste of pink bird. Even fellow flamingos with bones to pick can be a menace.

How do flamingos keep themselves safe from dangers, new and old? They have some tricks up their wings.

This Is How Flamingos Protect Themselves

Livin’ to the Extreme

Flamingos know to go where the bad guys won’t.

Some flamingos tackle the dilemma of predators by taking up refuge in locations their hunters don’t want any part of. For example, Andean flamingos live in salt lakes hundreds of miles above sea level in the Andean Mountains. In the winter, they migrate to wetlands closer to sea level for food, but they otherwise hang out in the highlands. These elevated areas are too harsh for many creatures that would love to dine on their pink neighbors.

Lake Natron is the birthplace of about 75 percent of the world’s lesser flamingos, but it’s nowhere most life would want to start out. The Tanzanian body of water is so saturated with salt, so incredibly hot, and so unbelievably acidic that it appears pink. The water can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit with a pH level of 9 to 10.5. 

It’s no place for most life on earth, but lesser flamingos have made it a central location to their existence. Lake Natron is where three in every four flamingos in the Great Rift Valley come to mate and raise their chicks.

“Flamingos have evolved very leathery skin on their legs so they can tolerate the salt water,” David Harper, a limnology professor at the University of Leicester, told Jennifer Billock of Smithsonian.com in 2016. “Humans cannot and would die if their legs were exposed for any length of time.”

Strength in Numbers

There is another reason why most lesser flamingos trek to Lake Natron to reproduce.

Unity is a powerful principle in nature. It’s easier to take down one of anything than it is to handle a unified group working toward the same goal. Flamingos haven’t evolved to the point of articulating this concept like humans have, but their actions indicate they understand it all the same.

Flamingos generally travel around in groups, known as flamboyances. They are social creatures, but that’s not the only reason for bunching up. Flamingos know that if the team up, they can have more eyeballs on the prowl for collective safety.

This is especially important when caring for the next generation. Breeding colonies are critical to flamingo success. They allow for better vigilance against predators, who would love to sneak up and steal an egg or two with nobody noticing.

Similarly, flamingos pair up when they mate. Their relationships are often monogamous. While one parent goes off to find food, the other stays back to guard the nest. Multiple this by many, and you have yourself quite the neighborhood watch.

Beak Attack

Flamingos are fighters, at least when they need to be. The fabulous fowl’s most valuable weapon is attached to its face. Flamingo beaks are no joke. Those things are sharp, and you do not want to be on the receiving end of one of them.

Sometimes, things get heated among flamingos - who among us is perfect? When they do, the beaks spring into action. The same goes for when flamingos act in self-defense against predators and other threats. For the most part, this is not the first or second option for flamingos. But it is an option, and it’s the one these birds will take if pushed there.

Come Fly with Me

For the most existential threats, the only impactful solution these birds have is flight.

Flamingos don’t do it often, but they can fly. Migrating is a normal part of the annual routine for most fabulous fowls, and they aren’t traversing continents by foot - flamingos hit the skies to travel long distances.

When lakes dry up, the only option flamingos have is to take to the air and find a new body of water to call home. As weather patterns change, flying remains a flamingo’s out for greener, wetter pastures. It’s also useful for avoiding and escaping predators, but the bird has other strategies for that. This is what flamingos have to withstand what climate change and fluctuating temperatures introduce.