Flamingos are a type of wading birds. A wading bird is a bird that walks in the water. Flamingos can live for up to 20 - 30 years. Sometimes their legs can be longer than their whole body. Flamingos stay in flocks that can contain over 1000 flamingos

 

Flamingos get their reddish pinkish colour from carotenoids (the same pigment that makes carrots orange) They get this from their diet of plankton, brine shrimp and blue-green algae. 

 

Flamingos usually stand on one leg. Scientists think this is to store body heat but they aren't completely sure whether this is the real reason or not.