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A BIRD THAT PRODUCES "PINK" MILK
1 March 2024
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The world has more than 10,000 species of birds, but only three of them create "milk": doves, flamingos and emperor penguins
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Among these birds, flamingos have the most strange form of milk that looks like cottage cheese and gives them their signature pink colour
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Flamingo chicks hatch with white-gray but it's because of the high concentration of beta carotene-rich food that their feathers turn pink
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These birds are among the few that feed their young with crop milk, which is not to be confused with mammalian milk
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The birds secrete it from the lining of their crops - a pouch-like part of their digestive system typically used for food storage
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This crop milk produced by flamingos is a highly nutritious and parents serve this to their babies
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Once eaten, enzymes in the digestive system break down the beta carotene and the pink pigments are absorbed by the fat in its liver
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These fats are then deposited in the flamingo's feathers and skin as it grows and the bird gradually turns pink
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The liquid is compositionally similar to mammalian milk and serves a similar purpose, hence the name
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The colouration of flamingos can vary because carotenoid levels in algae and crustaceans also vary across the world
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