New research shows that flamingos create tiny underwater tornados using their beaks and webbed feet to help them capture their prey. The insight suggests flamingos aren’t just passive filter feeders. Rather, these birds are active predators that use “flow-induced traps to capture agile invertebrates.” In other words, flamingos are more than just pretty birds that stand around.
“Flamingos employ their feet, L-shaped beak, and head movements to induce directional flow and recirculating eddies, effectively entrapping agile planktonic prey, such as brine shrimp, in muddy and hypersaline waters,” the research study says.
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Scientists worked with Chilean flamingos at the Nashville Zoo to come to this conclusion. They used high-speed cameras and particle image velocimetry (PIV) to film and analyze the animals’ feeding behavior. The flamingos would quickly retract their heads up from the bottom to create tornado-like vortices that stir up sediments and create an upwelling that draws prey toward the surface. They also use beak “chattering” (opening and closing) to create a similar effect.
Flamingos also create vortices with their webbed feet. By stomping in the shallow water, scientists observed yet a third way these unique birds create a flow-induced trap to maximize their ability to skim prey like brine shrimp from the water. Interestingly, flamingos’ stomping tornados also benefit other species, such as a small wader bird called the Wilson’s phalaropes, which can grab a quick meal thanks to the flamingos’ effort.
Watch the flamingos create their tiny tornados here:
Read the full research study here.
Header stock image by Raimund Linke/Getty Images