Caribbean flamingos, Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

© Claudio Contreras/Minden Picture

Single file, please!. World Teachers’ Day

Class trip? Looks like this teacher has their youngsters in line. We’re celebrating World Teachers' Day, which this year highlights the remarkable efforts of teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

Our flamingo teacher here may not have had to worry about Covid, but they certainly have their wings full. Although their grey charges don’t look flamingo-y yet, they will. Flamingo youngsters, like those here at the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, mature around the age of three to five years, so those trademark pink feathers will soon develop.

The hot-pink colouring comes from the flamingo diet: They eat food that contains a lot of alpha and beta carotenoid pigments, such as algae, bugs, crustaceans and molluscs. So, they have a lesson to teach us all - you are what you eat.