The animal I am writing about is a Phoenicopterus jamesi or also called a Puna Flamingo. Puna Flamingos are located in Laguna Colorada in Bolivia. The Puna Flamingo weighs up to 4.5lbs and grows up to 3.25ft. All Puna Flamingos have unmistakable long necks, legs, and a distinctive down-curved bill.  They also have black flight feathers and bright red shoulder feathers. This flamingo’s bill is shorter than most flamingo species.

 

Their reddish coloration is from the pigment in their diet. There are bright carmine streaks around their neck and back. They also have bright red skin around their eye. They’re a very pale pink, small, delicate flamingo.  There are about 100,000 left and there population is decreasing due to people hunting them.

 

Puna flamingos are dominant primary consumers, unfortunately, there have been few studies addressing the role of flamingos on the ecosystem. Their migration is meanly understood; flocks are known to leave higher altitudes.

 

Flamingos filter feed on shellfish, algae, and plankton. Their beaks separate the mud and silt from the food they consume. Flamingos’ tongues are large rough-surfaces.

           

I can’t believe how much information I found on Puna Flamingos.  I learned that flamingos have a lot of different experiences in their life.  I can’t believe there are about 100,000 left and there population is decreasing.

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Author: Ciara H.

Published: 3/2010

 

Bibliography:

www.junglewalk.com/info/flamingo-information.htm

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=spchtmdetails.asp&sid=3773&m=1

http://arkive.org/puna-flamingo/phoenicoparrus-jamesi/description.html

http://www.atacamaphoto.com/atacama-fauna/desert-animals32.htm

http://www.theanimalfiles.com/birds/flamingos/puna_flamingos.html