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

© Claudio Contreras/Minden Picture

Single file, now!. World Teachers’ Day

Class trip? Looks like this teacher has their youngsters in line. If only it were always this easy.... Today is World Teachers' Day, and we’re celebrating educators of all kinds. This year’s theme is ‘Teachers at the heart of educational renewal,’ and it highlights the remarkable efforts of teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine. They had to balance health and safety concerns with an abrupt switch to remote learning or partial in-person classes, all while focusing on the education and wellbeing of their students.

Our flamingo teacher here may not have had to worry about COVID, but they certainly have their wings full. Though 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 mollusks.