The answer is…

True! Flamingos eat brine shrimp and algae. The algae that both the shrimp and the flamingos eat contain carotenoids (the same thing that makes carrots orange)! As flamingos eat these things, their bodies process the food and their feathers turn pink. Believe it or not, if we humans eat wayyy too many carrots, our skin will turn an orange-ish color because of the carotenoids, too!

What is my child learning?

Students learn about various aspects of life science as they advance through elementary school. One important part of this study is the difference between living and non-living things. In kindergarten, children mostly explore what animals need to survive. In this activity in particular, students are reminded that one important quality of living animals is that they must eat food (rather than create it) in order to survive.

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Extra Resources

Check out this video to learn more about flamingos

Here is one more video about animals and the things they eat
Is it Flamingos or Flamingoes? It can be both! We decided go with Flamingos with our trivia question. Here's an article about the spelling of the plural version of this pink bird.

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