Chilean flamingos at Paignton Zoo, Devon
Class: Birds
Order: Phoenicopteriformes
Family: Phoenicopteridae
The flamboyance of flamingos are the very first animal that you will spot when you arrive at the zoo!
This species of flamingo inhabits brackish or alkaline shallow lakes across a region of South American that includes Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
Usually their specially-shaped beak, flamingos eat algae, small molluscs, crustaceans and other tiny water creatures.
Conservation
This species is sadly declining in the wild due to egg-harvesting, disturbance by tourism and the degradation of its habitat due to mining. Proposed conservation measures include carrying out surveys during breeding season to monitor population and control intensive egg-harvesting.