Shrimp can contribute, but this is an incomplete explanation for flamingos as a group. Their pink and reddish colors come from carotenoid pigments obtained through food, including algae and small crustaceans such as brine shrimp.
The Smithsonian explains that brine shrimp consume microscopic algae containing these pigments. Flamingos obtain and metabolize carotenoids when they eat algae or the shrimp. San Diego Zoo independently identifies algae and crustaceans as dietary sources of the birds' coloration.
Diet differs between species: some flamingos filter very fine foods such as algae, while others eat more invertebrates. San Diego Zoo also maintains its flamingos' coloration with pigment-containing pellets. Shrimp are therefore one possible route for the pigments, not a necessary explanation for every pink flamingo.
Flamingos get their pink color from dietary pigments that can come through algae or shrimp.
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
The Smithsonian explains that flamingos metabolize carotenoid pigments obtained from algae and brine shrimp, contributing to pink feathers.
Based on: Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo identifies both algae and small crustaceans as pigment sources and describes differences between algae-filtering species and species that eat more invertebrates.
Based on: San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo
The zoo reports feeding its flamingos a formulated pellet diet containing pigment that helps maintain their pink color, showing that shrimp are not required for coloration.
Based on: San Diego Zoo
Was this check helpful?
Sign in required
Sign in required
Scientific evidence supports the capacity for pain in fish. Detecting harmful stimuli and experiencing pain are distinct, but the evidence goes beyond simple reflexes.
Dogs can distinguish blue and yellow. Their color vision is more limited than typical human vision, but it is not restricted to yellow.
Dogs and humans have different oral microbes. That does not make dogs’ mouths cleaner, and counting bacterial species cannot establish which mouth is more hygienic.