Young flamingos have grey or white feathers and only grow pink after consuming blue-green algae and brine shrimp, which could potentially kill other animals.
Flamingos tend to live in hostile, remote wetlands, such as lakes with an alkaline pH that could burn human flesh off bones. However, there is an unexplored food source in this water, including diatom algae, cyanobacteria, and crustaceans. According to Dr. Paul Rose, a zoologist at the University of Exeter, “all of these can be dangerous to many other animals because they contain toxic chemicals called carotenoids.”