Chilean flamingo | |
---|---|
Chilean flamingo with egg at the Tiergarten in Bernburg, Germany | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Phoenicopteriformes |
Family: | Phoenicopteridae |
Genus: | Phoenicopterus |
Species: | P. chilensis
|
Binomial name | |
Phoenicopterus chilensis Molina, 1782
| |
Synonyms[3] | |
|
The Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is a species of large flamingo at a height of 110–130 cm (43–51 in) closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific.[4] The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
It breeds in South America from Ecuador and Peru to Chile and Argentina and east to Brazil; it has been introduced into Germany. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound.
These flamingos are mainly restricted to salt lagoons and soda lakes but these areas are vulnerable to habitat loss and water pollution.