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Food Colouring

Have you ever heard the expression "you are what you eat"? Well, flamingos are just that. Flamingos are not actually born pink. They are grey or white, but turn pink over the first couple of years of their lives. They get their reddish-pink colour from special colouring chemicals found in their diet of algae, shrimps and crustaceans. The wetland habitats in which they live in are packed with blue-green algae, which despite their name are actually red or orange in colour due to a chemical known as beta carotene. This chemical has a red-orange pigment in it known as carotenoid, which is also found in carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach. Once eaten, enzymes in the flamingo’s digestive system break down the beta carotene and the red-orange pigments are absorbed by the fat in its liver. These fats are then deposited in the flamingo’s feathers and skin as it grows. As their diet is almost exclusively from sources rich in beta carotene, flamingos gradually become pink.

Image dimensions: 3368 x 4239 pixels

Food Colouring

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Food Colouring

Have you ever heard the expression "you are what you eat"? Well, flamingos are just that. Flamingos are not actually born pink. They are grey or white, but turn pink over the first couple of years of their lives. They get their reddish-pink colour from special colouring chemicals found in their diet of algae, shrimps and crustaceans. The wetland habitats in which they live in are packed with blue-green algae, which despite their name are actually red or orange in colour due to a chemical known as beta carotene. This chemical has a red-orange pigment in it known as carotenoid, which is also found in carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach. Once eaten, enzymes in the flamingo’s digestive system break down the beta carotene and the red-orange pigments are absorbed by the fat in its liver. These fats are then deposited in the flamingo’s feathers and skin as it grows. As their diet is almost exclusively from sources rich in beta carotene, flamingos gradually become pink.

Image dimensions: 3368 x 4239 pixels

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