"Hi, I'm Gary. I enjoy spy novels, body surfing and Montgomery Clift movies. I collect Buffalo nickels and I have a brown belt in Kung-Fu. If you're a single female who's been looking for love in all the wrong places, give me a call and I'll bring your life in 'focus.'

"I'm writing you because I had a thought about the Snapple under the cap fact for today. I too have heard that flamingo's turn pink because they eat shrimp, but raw shrimp is grey not pink. Do the flamingos cook of the shrimp first?"

"Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp because of the beta carotene in the shrimp. Flamingos that don't eat shrimp are white. Beta carotene is the same stuff that's in carrots so if we humans ate nothing but carrots our skin would be a nice shade of orange."

"Wild flamingos are pink because they eat carotene-containing brine shrimps (one species) or blue-green algae (another species). Lacking such food in zoos, they turn white unless fed caroteniferous substitutes--carrots, beets, or red peppers in the old days, or the additive canthaxanthin today."

"I can tell you that most experts on the Internet agree that it's the carotene in the shrimp (or other shrimp-like crustaceans) that turn the Flamingo's feathers pink, just like the carotene in a diet of only carrots turns humans' skin orange. Some websites point to the algae in the water, but this is disputed by the effect of diet on Flamingos in captivity. When Flamingos in zoos are fed a diet low in carotene, their feathers become white. The enchantedlearning.com website also includes the following fascinating tidbit about Flamingos and their diet:

'The flamingo eats insects, crustaceans (shrimp-like animals), and tiny plants like diatoms and algae. The flamingo eats by putting its head upside-down into the water looking backwards. It takes in water that is rich in tiny organisms and filters nutrients from the water with a comb-like organ on its tongue.'"