An Inside Look at the Flamingo Skull

Flamingos famously feed with their heads upside-down, filtering algae, brine shrimp, and other food from shallow water. A closer look at the beak here reveals filtering structures composed of keratin, the same protein that makes up hair, hooves, horns, etc. This skull of a Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) is among over 44,000 specimens curated by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Department of Vertebrate Zoology, overseen by Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Krista Fahy, PhD.  

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