Editing Greater flamingo (section)

==Description==
The greater flamingo is the largest living species of flamingo,<ref name="origin">{{cite book |last1=Feduccia |first1=Alan |author-link1=Alan Feduccia |title=The Origin and Evolution of Birds |year=1999 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0300078617 |page=196 |edition=illustrated, reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QRKV7eSqmIC |access-date=23 March 2019}}</ref> averaging {{convert|110|–|150|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall and weighing {{convert|2|–|4|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. The largest male flamingos have been recorded to be up to {{convert|187|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall and to weigh {{convert|4.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Greater flamingo|url=http://en.tourduvalat.org/content/download/7378/73859/version/2/file/All+About+Greater+Flamingo.pdf|access-date=2008-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226145743/http://en.tourduvalat.org/content/download/7378/73859/version/2/file/All+About+Greater+Flamingo.pdf|archive-date=2009-02-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Most of the [[plumage]] is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight [[feather]]s are black. The [[beak|bill]] is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.

Chicks are covered in gray fluffy down. Subadult flamingos are paler with dark legs. Adults feeding chicks also become paler, but retain the bright pink legs. The coloration comes from the [[Carotenoid|carotenoid pigments]] in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds. 
Secretions of the [[uropygial gland]] also contain carotenoids.  During the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color.  This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying "make-up".<ref name="Amat">{{cite journal|author=Amat, J.A.|author2=Rendón, M.A.|author3=Garrido-Fernández, J.|author4=Garrido, A.|author5=Rendón-Martos, M.|author6=Pérez-Gálvez, A.|name-list-style=amp|year=2011|title=Greater flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus use uropygial secretions as make-up|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|volume=65|issue=4|pages=665–673|doi=10.1007/s00265-010-1068-z|s2cid=30299643}}</ref>

{{Clr}}<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Greater flamingo egg.jpg|Egg at [[Cincinnati Zoo]]
File:Sub-adult Phoenicopterus roseus.jpg|Chick with gray down
File:The juvenile greater flamingo.jpg|Juvenile at Ghadira Nature Reserve, [[Malta]]
File:GreaterFlamingoSubAdultsAtPulicatLake.jpg|Subadults at Pulicat Lake, [[India]]
File:Flamant Rose-Oran-Algerie.jpg|Pink flamingo at Lake Télamine, [[Oran]], Algeria.
</gallery>