See Africa's pink flamingos while you still can
They are one of the world’s most spectacular birds. Tall, elegant and candy floss pink, flamingoes are a sight to behold – especially when they are flocked in their thousands across the shallow waters of an African lake. But these quirky creatures could be living on borrowed time as changes in the environment threaten their very specialised breeding sites.
Two thirds of the total population of flamingoes lives in southern and eastern Africa, particularly around the lakes of Kenya’s Rift Valley. These lakes represent a remarkable ecosystem that is toxic to almost all other wildlife. They are super alkaline and host enormous blooms of blue green algea, which the birds eat by filtering water through their beak. The waters can also be hypersaline, with a salt content that would be poisonous to other animals. The water in Lake Natron, for example, would strip away human skin. Over millennia, flamingoes have developed special tough skin and scales to stand in the water, and they can drink water at near boiling temperatures from the edge of geysers.
Because so few of these unique environments exist in the world, flamingoes are made especially vulnerable. Changes in water temperature, brought about by climate change, can quickly kill off the algae and leave flamingoes with nothing to eat, meaning huge numbers can literally starve to death. Pollution from mining and agriculture can upset the delicate balance of chemicals in the water, cause huge bacterial outbreaks and poison the birds with heavy metals. In desperation, flamingoes have been known to turn to other less-desirable food sources, which can weaken them considerably.
In 2008, 30,000 birds died at Lake Bogoria in one week. The same number died at Lake Nakuru in 2006. More than 40,000 birds died within a short window at Lake Manyara in both 2004 and 1993. Scientists have been unable to fully understand what caused these mass deaths and so are unable to predict when another may occur. Efforts are being undertaken to protect the integrity of these lakes, though environmental changes and human intervention are hard to prevent.
The sight of up to one million flamingoes blanketing the water in a riot of vibrant pinks is breath taking. If the entire population could be lost within the next century, there’s no time to waste.
Have you ever been to Africa? Scroll through the gallery above to see more images of these incredible birds.