Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why flamingoes stand on one leg
bbc ^ | 13 August 2009 | Matt Walker

Posted on 08/17/2009 9:50:56 AM PDT by JoeProBono

It is one of the simplest, but most enigmatic mysteries of nature: just why do flamingoes like to stand on one leg? The question is asked by zoo visitors and biologists alike, but while numerous theories abound, no-one has yet provided a definitive explanation. Now after conducting an exhaustive study of captive Caribbean flamingoes, two scientists believe they finally have the answer. Flamingoes stand on one leg to regulate their body temperature, they say.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: flamingo; flamingoes; leg
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last


1 posted on 08/17/2009 9:50:56 AM PDT by JoeProBono
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

...and here I always thought that they had lost one shoe.


2 posted on 08/17/2009 9:52:10 AM PDT by Batman11 (Chicago, Land of Lincoln who freed the slaves and Land of Obama who enslaved the free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

Interesting. Read later.


3 posted on 08/17/2009 9:52:40 AM PDT by ElayneJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Batman11

I always thought they were afraid of trampling the grass.


4 posted on 08/17/2009 9:53:18 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (What kind of organization answers the phone if you call a suicide hotline in Gaza City?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Batman11

Aren’t they just drying their nails?


5 posted on 08/17/2009 9:53:40 AM PDT by Procyon (To the global warming fanatics the problem is too many people and the solution is genocide.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

How do you know when a family of pink flamingos moves into your neighborhood?

They put plastic illegal aliens in their front yard


6 posted on 08/17/2009 9:55:05 AM PDT by Dacula (Evil succeeds when good men do nothing. Lets do something.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Batman11
because if they lifted the other one they would fall down
7 posted on 08/17/2009 9:57:38 AM PDT by MSgt Smith (What are tag lines)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

Budgerigars, Cockatiels and Parrots also stand on one leg. It is a sign of ill health when they do not.


8 posted on 08/17/2009 9:59:26 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

I just think they’re showing off.


9 posted on 08/17/2009 9:59:46 AM PDT by Yardstick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

Because they can?


10 posted on 08/17/2009 10:01:40 AM PDT by right way right (Do not mistake Religion for God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Flamingo Scientists


11 posted on 08/17/2009 10:05:12 AM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68 (CALL CONGRESSCRITTERS TOLL-FREE @ 1-800-965-4701)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

Because they can?


12 posted on 08/17/2009 10:05:38 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono
Had a neighbor who complained constantly about another neighbors boat that they had to look at (never mind the fact that they bought a house with a driveway view.)Any way the neighbors just bristled back and decorated the whole property line in front of the boat with 10 flamingos.

I laughed my ...ss off.

13 posted on 08/17/2009 10:06:03 AM PDT by right way right (Do not mistake Religion for God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono
Another little known scientific factoid ...


14 posted on 08/17/2009 10:06:27 AM PDT by Daffynition ("...... we are about to be czarred and fettered." ~ alterum ictum faciam.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Batman11

More retarded science, a field I’ve lost total respect for ...


15 posted on 08/17/2009 10:07:53 AM PDT by Scythian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

I coulda told ‘em that for free.

We had parakeets when I was a kid, and at night they’d always stand on one leg and tuck their beak into their back feathers to stay warm.


16 posted on 08/17/2009 10:08:14 AM PDT by Pessimist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono
This year's winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest in the Detective genre:

She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida - the pink ones, not the white ones - except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn't wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren't.

Eric Rice
Sun Prairie, WI

-PJ
17 posted on 08/17/2009 10:11:09 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (This just in... Voting Republican is a Terrorist act!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Daffynition

18 posted on 08/17/2009 10:13:37 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Political Junkie Too

19 posted on 08/17/2009 10:15:57 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Batman11

20 posted on 08/17/2009 10:17:05 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson