The lesser flamingo (''Phoeniconaias minor'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

occurring in

sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and western

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered

vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

Characteristics

The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The species can weigh from . The standing height is around . The total length (from

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from . Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The clearest difference between this species and the

greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. Size is less helpful unless the species are together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height. The extinct species ''

Phoeniconaias proeses ''Phoeniconaias proeses'' is an extinct species of flamingo from the Pliocene of Australia. Fossil material was described under several names including ''Ocyplanus proeses'' and ''Phoeniconaias gracilis'', which were eventually found to be synony ...

'' in the same genus, from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Spirulina'',

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

which grow only in very alkaline lakes. Presence of flamingo groups near water bodies is indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use. Although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the

photosynthetic pigment A photosynthetic pigment (accessory pigment; chloroplast pigment; antenna pigment) is a pigment that is present in chloroplasts or photosynthetic bacteria and captures the light energy necessary for photosynthesis. List of photosynthetic pigmen ...

s that give the birds their pink colour. Their deep bill is specialised for filtering tiny food items.

Predators

Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including

marabou stork The marabou stork (''Leptoptilos crumenifer'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae native to sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds in both wet and arid habitats, often near human habitation, especially landfill sites. It is someti ...

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ba ...

African fish eagle The African fish eagle (''Haliaeetus vocifer'') or the African sea eagle, is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur. It is the national bird of Malawi, Na ...

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es,

Great white pelican The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes. ...

Martial Eagle The martial eagle (''Polemaetus bellicosus'') is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa.Ferguson-Lees & Christie, ''Raptors of the World''. Houghton Mifflin Company (2001), . It is the only member of the genus ''Polemaetus''. A species of t ...

, and

big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus '' Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...

Breeding

Phoeniconaias minor MHNT 226 RdN Aftout Es Saheli Mauritanie

In Africa, where they are most numerous, the lesser flamingos breed principally on the highly

caustic Caustic most commonly refers to: * Causticity, a property of various corrosive substances ** Sodium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic soda'' ** Potassium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic potash'' ** Calcium oxide, sometimes called ''caus ...

Lake Natron Lake Natron is a salt or alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site ...

in northern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. Their other African breeding sites are at

Etosha Pan The Etosha Pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin in the north of Namibia. It is a hollow in the ground in which water may collect or in which a deposit of salt remains after water has evaporated. The 120-kilo ...

Makgadikgadi Pan The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikg ...

, and Kamfers Dam. The last confirmed breeding at Aftout es Saheli in coastal

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

was in 1965. Breeding occurred at

Lake Magadi Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks, north of Tanzania's Lake Natron. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is well known for its wading birds, including f ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in 1962 when Lake Natron was unsuitable due to flooding. In the early 20th century, breeding was also observed at

Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake's abundance of algae used to attract a vast qu ...

. The species also breeds in southwestern and southern Asia. In 1974, they bred at the

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into t ...

, but since then, only at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria salt pans in northwestern India. Some movement of individuals occurs between Africa and India. Like all flamingos, they lay a single chalky-white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

on a mound they build of mud. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over 100,000 individuals. The creches are marshalled by a few adult birds that lead them by foot to fresh water, a journey that can reach over .

Conservation

Despite being the most numerous species of flamingo, it is classified as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities. The population in the two key East African lakes,

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitant ...

and Bogoria, have been adversely affected in recent years by suspected heavy metal

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

ing, while its primary African breeding area in Lake Natron is currently under threat by a proposed soda ash plant by

Tata Chemicals Tata Chemicals Limited is an Indian global company with interests in chemicals, crop protection and specialty chemistry products headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company is one of the largest chemical companies in India with operations in In ...

. The only breeding site in South Africa, situated at Kamfers Dam, is threatened by pollution and encroaching development. The lesser flamingo is one of the species to which the

Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Conventio ...

applies.

Media

File:Lesser Flamingos I - Chilika IMG 9298.jpg, In

Chilika Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, khordha and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over . It is the bigge ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India File:Phoeniconaias minor.jpg, At

Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the l ...

File:Flamingo00.jpg, Painting by

C. G. Finch-Davies Claude Gibney Finch-Davies (24 May 1875 – 4 August 1920) was a British soldier, ornithologist and painter who produced a series of paintings of birds of South Africa in the early part of the 20th century. Life history He was born in Delh ...

File:Phoeniconaias minor3.jpg, Lake Nakuru, Kenya File:Phoeniconaias minor.ogv, Video taken at

File:Lesser Flamingos, 2000 adults, Kamfersdam.jpg, Breeding colony at Kamfers Dam File:Lesser Flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) juvenile in flight.jpg, Juvenile in flight, Madagascar File:Phoenicopterus minor -Lake Bogoria, Kenya-8a.jpg, Huge flock at

Lake Bogoria Lake Bogoria (formerly Lake Hannington) is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Maga ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

File:Lesser Flamingo feeding.jpg, Adult Feeding,

Jamnagar Jamnagar () is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies ...

, India File:Lesser Flamingo Juvenile Feeding AMSM3016.jpg, Juvenile Feeding,

, India File:Lesser Flamingo Juvenile AMSM3051.jpg, Juvenile,

, India File:Lesser Flamingo AMSM3036.jpg, Adult,

, India File:Lesser Flamingo Juvenile AMSM3071.jpg, Juvenile,

, India File:Lesser Flamingo Juveniles AMSM3277.jpg, Juveniles,

, India

References

External links

Flamingo Resource Centre
- a collection of resources and information related to flamingos * ARKive
Images and movies of the lesser flamingo ''(Phoenicopterus minor)''
* Lesser Flamingo
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
* Save the Flamingo
A site dedicated to the conservation of the South African breeding colony
{{Authority control

lesser flamingo The lesser flamingo (''Phoeniconaias minor'') is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and western India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered Vagrancy (biology), vagrants. Charac ...

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of South Asia Birds of the Middle East Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of Africa Near threatened biota of Asia

Articles containing video clips