Viral Flamingo Video Looks Utterly Horrific But Is Actually Kinda Sweet!

Nature truly is remarkable. While it may look like something out of a horror film, what these two flamingos are actually doing is feeding their young offspring!

A recent video of a flamingo feeding it’s chicks has gone viral due to it’s completely bizarre nature. In the video that was shared by Science Channel on Facebook, it looks like a flamingo is hammering the head of another while “its offspring feeds on the blood” which is dripping down the flamingo’s head.

In actual fact, the reality is something much sweeter. “These flamingos are trying to feed the same chick with red crop milk,” the page wrote. “Parent flamingos produce crop milk in their digestive tracts and regurgitate it to feed their young.”

Crop milk, which is extremely high in protein and fat, is a secretion from the lining of the thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract called crop that is regurgitated to young birds.

The video has so far been viewed 4.9 million times and has had over 28,000 shares. It’s drawn a lot of interest from viewers who had no idea this was even a thing! One user posted, “Thanks for the nightmares,” while another wrote, “I don’t find this disturbing at all. I actually find it quite beautiful.”

Another interesting flamingo fact is that they get their distinctive pink colouring from carotenoid pigments found in their diet of algae and crustaceans. However, feeding their chicks crop milk during breeding season takes up so much carotenoid, that these birds are drained of their colour and their plumage appears almost white. The parents get their colour back once their chicks start eating on their own.

How utterly cool is that! What a fascinating species of bird flamingos are!

Images: Facebook