>On Sun, 11 Dec 1994, Mike Patterson wrote, "Ross's Gulls and flamingos are
>pink because of the shrimpy things," and Katie Sauter said, "Sea otters'
>(_enhydra lutra_) teeth are pink for the same reason -- a fact that came
>in very handy on mammalogy exams -- it never occured to me that sea
>otters and flamingos could have so much in common! Yes, nature is
>indeed wonderful." Well, humans can do it too!
[story deleted for space]
>The flamino story is an old one. I didn't know about the gull and the
>otters. Are there any other stories like this?
>
>Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
>The Evergreen State College Voice: 206-866-6000, x. 6755
>Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 206-866-6794

At the Woodland Park Zoo, they feed their flamingoes and tree kangaroos a
variety of tea leaves, in order to create the "natural" color in feathers and
fur, that would otherwise have come from shrimp?/krill? (I'm not sure what
flamingos eat) and tree leaves/bark. I guess the flamingos don't get as much of
the (expensive) colored things to eat as they do in nature, so must be helped
along. The tree kangaroos can't be fed what they eat in the wild, as their
habitat is disappearing faster than the brazilian rain forest, so they get
"chow" and bark/leaves that are close to what they eat in the wild,
supplemented with tea leaves. They think fur color is important in breeding,
but they don't know much about these animals, so everything is really just a
guess. (They love the chow, so keepers hide it to make them forage)

I have a close friend whose mother ate carrots and drank carrot juice for
months, on the advice of her naturopathic doctor, in order to "flush out"
years of drug use (for liver problems). After about 2 months, her skin turned
orange overnight, and the doctor pronounced her "flushed". She felt much
better, but it did take a couple weeks for her skin to return to normal!

Susan Collicott
susan at pmel.noaa.gov