- Who
- Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, Tanzania
- What
- 2,500,000 total number
- Where
- Tanzania ()
The soda lakes of East Africa play host to a permanent population of at least 1.5–2.5 million lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) – with the majority of these located in northern Tanzania. This represents up to 75% of the global population of lesser flamingos and the largest proliferation of any flamingo species in the world. In January 1995, numbers reached in excess of 2.75 million in just six lakes of Tanzania that were surveyed during the breeding season.
With temperatures of the lakes frequently soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit – sometimes even 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) – and alkalinity levels so high in places that the water can burn skin, these soda lakes are an inhospitable place for most wildlife. However, they provide the perfect conditions for cyanobacteria that lesser flamingos eat, so the birds flock to them for plentiful food as well as relative safety from predators.
The total combined populations of Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia could be as high as 3–4 million lesser flamingos – which would equate to around 95% of the global population, though no comprehensive survey has ever been conducted.
Tanzania's Lake Natron is the main and only regular breeding site in East Africa for this species, with nesting recorded most frequently during the dry period from August to November.
