Aerial view of flamingo nests, Lake Natron, Tanzania


Located in northern Tanzania Lake Natron is the main breeding area for more then a million Lesser Flamingos, Phoenicopterus minor. The hot and forbidding environment enables Lake Natron to serve millions of flamingoes as the ideal nursery would be predators avoid the saline lake and leave young birds in peace. The flamingoes feed on Spirulina a blue green algae with red pigments As salinity increases so do the number of cyanobacteria and the lake can support more nests. Flamingoes must exercise caution however because the lake can turn deadly even to them. Depending on rainfall its alkalinity can approach that of straight ammonia and when the lake is flooded with water that has heated underground its temperature can reach a scalding 60 degrees Celsius, 140 degrees Fahrenheit.


Size: 5315px × 3534px
Location: Aerial view from feet, center of the lake, Lake Natron, Tanzania
Photo credit: © Ulrich Doering / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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