Andean flamingo

The Andean flamingo is a species of flamingo known by the scientific name Phoenicoparrus andiuns. They are one of the three flamingo species native to the Andes. They spend their time in the mountains of South America, and are currently endangered and are estimated to have around 38,000 left.

Body Design
The andean flamingo is seen with a pale pink body with brighter upper parts, deep vivacieous-pink lower neck, great and wing-coverts. They are normally around 110-112 cm in size. Their bill is a pale yellow and black color with grayish bold streaks on their upper parts. They have yellow legs that appear to look like two paisr of twigs.

Life Cycle
The andean flamingo reaches full maturity at around 3 to 5 years when they are able to breed. They tend to breed around February through December which Around Christmas time in the Andes. The egg of the andean flamingo is lain as a single egg which is incubated for twenty-eight days. Although they have a poor breeding system because of the climate conditions which make breeding limited and abandoned. After being born the chicks are covered with a grey/white down feathers. They are feed with "crop milk" which is a substance from the parents digestive tract. As they grow they begin to learn how to walk which they are supervised by a few adult birds.

Ecology
The andean flamingo is restricted around the mounts of South America, places like Peru, Chile, Argentina, and more locations similar. They prefer to be around wet shallow lands around the mountains. They also inhabit salt and and alkaline lakes at altitudes around 2,300 - 4,500 meters above sea level. There are interesting and creative ways the andean flamingo can ingest their food. They feed on dis which are a form of plankton found that frequents at the bottom of lakes and rivers. They are able to filter their intake of the unwanted minerals and rocks that float around in lake by using their bills. Another thing the andean flamingo intakes are underwater plant but mostly feed on the small plankton. The andean flamingo is able to adopt the eating style of another species called the Chilean flamingo.

Conservation
Slowly the andean flamingo becomes more and more endangered by many problems. Those problems include their habitats being extracted, water contamination, tourism, agriculture, urban development and other reasons. The andean flamingo is the rarest of all species of flamingos. They lay only one egg at a time which causes a problem, which many people decide to take the eggs and sell them for food. Lakes are also being affected by all the water mining going on which causes lakes to be dried up therefore leading to no habitat for the andean flamingo. The population of the andean flamingo is estimated around 38,000 though highly spectacle. We must take action and prevent the andean flamingo eggs from being stolen and have public awareness.

Video
Andean Flamingo unique mating dance KW8GX2n4qbY