POSTCARD OF THE FLAMINGO Phoenicopterus Bahamensis Phoenicopterus ruber. L. Keratophyton dichotomum fuscum. PAINTED BY ENGLISH NATURALIST MARK CATESBY (1682 - 1749) UNUSED CHROME POSTCARD SIZE OF CARD: 6.5" X 4.75" Description UNUSED GENUINE MODERN CHROME NON- LINEN POST CARD POSTCARD Flamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus and family Phoenicopteridae. There are four flamingo species in the Americas and two species in the Old World. Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some suggest that the flamingo, like some other animals, has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap leg and then let the other half sleep, but this has not been proven. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water . As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom. Young flamingos hatch with grey plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly coloured and thus a more desirable mate. A white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. This is changing as more zoos begin to add prawns and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos. Flamingos filter-feed on brine shrimp and blue-green algae. Their oddly-shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat, and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae which line the mandibles, and the large rough-surfaced tongue. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoid proteins in their diet of animal and plant plankton. These proteins are broken down into pigments by liver enzymes. The source of this varies by species, and effects the saturation of color. Flamingos whose sole diet is blue-green algae are darker in color compared to those who get it second hand (e.g. from animals that have digested blue-green aglae). Zoo-fed flamingos, who often lack the color enhancer in their diet, may be given food with the additive canthaxanthin, which is often also given to farmed salmon. Flamingos produce a "milk" like pigeon milk due to the action of a hormone called prolactin (see Columbidae). It contains more fat and less protein than the latter does, and it is produced in glands lining the whole of the upper digestive tract, not just the crop. Both parents nurse their chick, and young flamingos feed on this milk, which also contains red and white blood cells, for about two months until their bills are developed enough to filter feed. Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (3 April 1683 - December 1749) was an English naturalist. Between 1731 and 1743 Catesby published his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first published account of the flora and fauna of North America. It included 220 plates of birds, reptiles and amphibians, fish, insects, and mammals. Life and works Catesby was baptized at Castle Hedingham, Essex. His father was a lawyer and gentleman farmer. An acquaintance with the naturalist John Ray led to his becoming interested in natural history. Catesby studied natural history in London before going to stay with his sister in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1712. The death of his father six years earlier had left him enough to live on. After a visit to the West Indies in 1714, he returned to Virginia, and then home to England in 1719. Catesby had collected seeds and botanical specimens in Virginia, which he had sent to a Hoxton nurseryman. Thomas Fairchild. This made his name known to other scientists in England, and in 1722 he was recommended by William Sherard to undertake a plant-collecting expedition to Carolina on behalf of the Royal Society. Catesby settled in Charlestown, and traveled to other parts of eastern North America and the West Indies, collecting plants and birds. Many of these specimens were sent to Hans Sloane in London. Catesby returned to England in 1726. Catesby spent the next seventeen years preparing his Natural History. Publication was financed by an interest-free loan from one of the fellows of the Royal Society, the Quaker Peter Collinson. Catesby was the first to use folio-sized coloured plates in natural history books. He learnt how to etch the plates himself. The first eight plates had no backgrounds, but from then on Catesby included plants with his animals. He completed the first volume in 1731, and in February 1733 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. The second volume was completed in 1743, and in 1746 he produced a supplement from material sent to him by friends in America, particularly John Bartram. Catesby died just before Christmas 1749, and was buried on December 23rd. Carolus Linnaeus included much of the information in the Natural History in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae (1758).