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The Ultimate Egg
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Birds

Flamingo

Phoenicopterus roseus

About

The greater flamingo stands up to 1.5 meters tall and gets its iconic pink coloring from carotenoid pigments in the crustaceans and algae it filters from shallow water. Both parents share incubation duties.

Their Eggs

A single chalky white egg laid on a cone-shaped mud mound nest that the parents build up to 30 cm high to protect from flooding.

Egg Size Comparison

Chicken 55mm
Flamingo 90mm
163% of chicken egg

Fun Fact

Both flamingo parents produce 'crop milk' — a bright red, protein-rich secretion from their upper digestive tract — to feed their chick. They're one of only three bird groups that produce crop milk (pigeons and male emperor penguins are the others).