A Lawn Ornament, NOT!!

Let’s talk Flamingos!!  Everyone knows what a flamingo looks like!   You’ve seen them as ticky tacky plastic lawn ornaments or you took one home from your Caribbean vacation in a snow globe!  You saw one at the zoo or read about them in a storybook.  Alice uses flamingos as croquet mallets in Through the Looking Glass (by Lewis Carroll).

But did you know……..

• Flamingos can swim, and flamingos can fly.
• They live in lagoons, or lakes, where there is lots of mud and water.
• A flamingo’s pink or reddish feather color comes from its diet, which is high in alpha and beta-carotene. People eat beta-carotene when they eat carrots.
• When a flamingo nests, they typically lay one large, white egg.
• The typical lifespan of a flamingo is 20 to 30 years, but 50 years is not unheard of.
• Flamingos are not on the US List of Endangered Species at the current time.
• References:  www.thewildones.org and www.seaworld.org

Please join us in welcoming AmandaBearLove‘s new Flamingo to Buildabearville!