Why do flamingoes live in colonies; sometimes in the thousands?

Found throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, native to Africa, Asia and Europe, flamingos are a type of wading bird. They engage in a technique called filter-feeding on brine shrimp, blue-green algae as well as insect larvae, small insects, mollusks and crustaceans, making them omnivores.

Flamingoes are known to be very social, living in colonies whose population can number in the thousands. It is believed that living in these large colonies serves 3 purposes. First, to avoid predators, second to maximize food intake as described above, and lastly to use scarcely suitable nesting sties more efficiently. Predators vary by flamingo species but include lions, leopards, cheetahs and jackals. Pythons are also known to attack flamingos.

The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from ‘carotenoids’ in their diet of animal and plant plankton. Carotenoids are multi-colored organic pigments produced by plants and algae as well as several bacteria and fungi. The source of this varies by species and affects the flamingos color saturation.

Ancient Romans considered the flamingos tongue a delicacy. In other cultures such as in the Americas, the Moche people who flourished in northern Peru depicted flamingos in their art as they worshiped nature. Flamingos are the national bird of the Bahamas. Andean miners killed flamingos for their body fat, believing that it would cure tuberculosis. In the U.S., pink plastic flamingo statues are a popular lawn ornament.