Feeding Behavior, Aggression, and the Conservation Biology of Flamingos: Integrating Studies of Captive and Free-ranging Birds

SYNOPSIS. Flamingos (Aves, Phoenicopteridae) represent an ancientlineage of long-legged, microphagous, colonial wading birds.Although often perceived as tropical, flamingo distributionis more closely tied to the great deserts of the world, andto hypersaline sites, than it is to equatorial regions. Manyaspects of flamingo behavior and ecology can be studied in captivity.Experimental studies involving captive birds, when combinedwith observational studies of free-ranging birds, offer researchersopportunities to address questions that are unanswerable withfield work alone. Zoo populations of flamingos are prime candidatesfor such studies. Here, we use samples of our own work to illustrate the synergisticeffects of combining zoo and field research. Our first exampledescribes how studies of salt tolerance in captive birds areplaying a key role in assessing the impact of salt as an ecologicaldeterminant of flamingo distribution. Our second example describeshow aggression and dominance interactions affect the feedingbehavior of flamingos. We assess the implications of this researchin terms of both avicultural practices and the fundamental ecologyof the birds. We believe that similar collaborations involvingother zoo animals would yield comparatively productive results.