![]() ![]() The crop milk of flamingoes is strongly red in color due to the foods that they eat.īaby flamingo being fed by one of its parents. ![]() Not long after the baby flamingoes have hatched, the parents start to mix in adult food items, which change the crop milk into more like porridge for sea birds!Īt this stage the crop milk is not real milk as we know it from mammals, but rather ground up and liquefied foods that the adults eat and store in their crop. The ‘crop milk’ of flamingoes is high in protein and fat, is stained red in color, and is initially liquid but later starts to turn into a semi-solid substance that resembles cottage cheese, but is made from predigested food eaten by the adult flamingoes. This is fascinating because milk production was long thought to be reserved for lactating mammals. They feed it to their young through their mouth until they are a couple of weeks old, where they start to mix in regular flamingo food like brine shrimp, plankton, and algae (mainly Spirulina platensis).Ĭrop milk is indeed real milk that is produced by the lining of the crop – an organ located in the upper digestive tract of both parents from which the milk is regurgitated into the mouth of the baby flamingo.īoth the male and the female flamingo produce the hormone prolactin, which is the same hormone that stimulates milk production in humans! Meaning both mom and dad are able to produce milk for their babies. Yes, you heard it right! Flamingo parents can produce milk, called crop milk, for their babies. The first few weeks after hatching, baby flamingos eat ‘crop milk’ produced by their parents. Flamingos start out as grey fluffy chicks that in a matter of months grow real feathers that slowly turn pink! The diet that they eat is essential for their optimal development and for them to obtain their recognizable pink feather coat. ![]()
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