‌K, like the dude from MIB

Flamingos can survive in low oxygen, high altitude, high temperatures, low temperatures, high alkaline, they can and will drink boiling water and they can be completely frozen at night and still get up the next morning

(animal death) this is a real undoctored photograph (*though the body was stood up for the shot) of a dead flamingo on the surface of lake natron, a lake so salty and so alkaline that it’s naturally carbonated like soda and would eat through your stomach lining if you drank from it.

When this photo went viral years ago, most people assumed this poor flamingo must have been killed by the lake.

It is actually the lake where 75% of its global population are hatched. This is a photo from the same lake:

RATING: RELIABLE

Flamingos can survive in high altitudes, hypersaline conditions, and caustic lakes.

Source: ‘All flamingo species have evolved to live in some of the planet’s most extreme wetlands, like caustic “soda lakes”, hypersaline lagoons or high-altitude salt flats.’

They can survive water so alkaline it burns human skin.

Source: ‘More than a million lesser flamingos breed in Tanzania’s Lake Natron, for instance, a lake fed by hot springs with water so alkaline that it can strip away human skin (one pioneering flamingo researcher named Leslie Brown spent months in Nairobi General Hospital after burning his legs wading out to observe where the birds nested).’

They can drink water at near-boiling temperatures.

Source: ‘They can drink water at near boiling point to collect freshwater from springs and geysers at lake edges. If no freshwater is available, flamingos can use glands in their head that remove salt, draining it out from their nasal cavity.’

The lakes they inhabit can freeze overnight, and the flamingos can survive once it thaws in the morning.

Source: ‘The birds may seem to epitomize the tropics, but they also live in the Andes, 15,000 feet above sea level, where they rest on lakes that freeze around them overnight.

“You’ll see them sitting there like snowballs, frozen on ice,” Dr. Arengo said. “And as the temperature warms up, they thaw out, fluff themselves up and go about their business.”’

The photo is indeed from Lake Natron, taken by photographer Nick Brandt. The content of the lake chemically preserves animal corpses that die there. You can see more photos of this here.

It is also true that 75% of Lesser Flamingos are hatches on Lake Natron.

Source: ‘The lake’s landscape is surreal and deadly—and made even more bizarre by the fact that it’s the place where nearly 75 percent of the world’s lesser flamingos are born.’

Some species of Flamingo eat cyanobacteria or algae.

UPDATE! They found the original photo!

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Also prev tags:

Since the OP has helpfully turned off replies to ensure his presented victimhood remains pristine and cannot be argued against: do you think driving a basically unknown blog to deactivate due to death threats and threats of doxxing as a good thing?

Do you think the blog you're following with thousands of followers could not have reached out individually for clarification if it was an important concern he had, or if it was so unimportant as to not be worth DMing someone over, that it was not a conscious choice to expose the blog that criticised him to his followers to enable that kind of harassment.

The deactivated blog actually reblogged and apologised for the slightly snarky post and expanded on the specific issue (that shadiversity's early videos did not reference any literature and passed off a lot of speculation and downright factually incorrect information as factual @idrawtooslow fyi this was the issue referenced which was only outlined separately).

However rather than reblog THAT post which would demonstrate a constructive engagement with the issue, he simply allowed his followers such as yourself to drive a queer person off Tumblr for the sin of criticising a pobular blogger.

This is the first I’m hearing of this harassment because I don’t monitor my Tumblr NEARLY enough to see everything as it comes through. (I’m currently travelling, and it’s pretty much luck of the draw which notifications come through at the top when I open them). I still haven’t seen the response from the commenter because I wanted to address this before I went looking for it.

But I just want to say that I’m really sorry that this has happened. I did not expect that my followers will go after criticism in this way, and I’m incredibly disappointed to hear that people have been sending DEATH THREATS just because someone was a bit snarky to me.

To be clear, I NEVER either need or want any of my followers to send threats on my behalf. It’s not helpful, and it’s not acceptable.

I received a comment that left me feeling confused, and sought clarification. I did so publicly because the original comment was public and I wanted to see if others had the same or similar concern. (I honestly thought it would be more likely to end up with me getting barraged with criticism) There was no malice in my intent, and if I’d realised people would react the way they did then I absolutely would not have posted this. I will learn from this, but DAMN it shouldn’t have to come at this kind of cost.

you. you get it.

“Game on, then.”

14 years ago when I had recently moved to Alaska, I went hiking with an Aleut friend, and she pointed to a feather lying on the ground and said "hey that's a bald eagle tail feather, you should grab it!" and I was like "uhh I'm very white and that's very illegal" and she went "they're fuckin everywhere up here man. I have 20." so she grabs it off the ground and hands it to me and says "there, now it's a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person."

and I'm like, okay, cool, I guess this is how we do things in Alaska. nice.

so I keep this bald eagle tail feather around for years. display it in my home among other cherished memorabilia from places I've lived and visited, etc.

on a whim, I have just now looked it up. there is no exemption to that law for a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person. the last 7 years I lived in the US, I was technically a bald eagle poacher.

the law against 'picking feathers up off the ground' means that you can't go shoot an eagle then sell the feathers on etsy by saying you 'just found them'. you can't own them no matter where they came from, which makes sure that they're not going to come from any birds killed and then secretly disposed of.