New research reveals that flamingos create tiny underwater tornados utilizing their beaks and webbed ft to assist them seize their prey. The perception suggests flamingos aren’t simply passive filter feeders. Relatively, these birds are lively predators that use “flow-induced traps to seize agile invertebrates.” In different phrases, flamingos are extra than simply fairly birds that stand round.
“Flamingos make use of their ft, L-shaped beak, and head actions to induce directional stream and recirculating eddies, successfully entrapping agile planktonic prey, corresponding to brine shrimp, in muddy and hypersaline waters,” the analysis examine says.
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Scientists labored with Chilean flamingos on the Nashville Zoo to return to this conclusion. They used high-speed cameras and particle picture velocimetry (PIV) to movie and analyze the animals’ feeding habits. The flamingos would rapidly retract their heads up from the underside to create tornado-like vortices that fire up sediments and create an upwelling that attracts prey towards the floor. Additionally they use beak “chattering” (opening and shutting) to create an identical impact.
Flamingos additionally create vortices with their webbed ft. By stomping within the shallow water, scientists noticed but a 3rd means these distinctive birds create a flow-induced lure to maximise their capability to skim prey like brine shrimp from the water. Apparently, flamingos’ stomping tornados additionally profit different species, corresponding to a small wader hen referred to as the Wilson’s phalaropes, which might seize a fast meal because of the flamingos’ effort.
Watch the flamingos create their tiny tornados right here:
Learn the complete analysis examine here.
Header inventory picture by Raimund Linke/Getty Pictures