With a curious physiognomy, the flamingo has a very long neck and legs compared to the rest of the birds. This and its strange beak suppose adaptations to the environment in which these animals live, shallow waters. The extraordinary and specialized beak of the flamingo is made up of numerous blades that trap food, filtering the small plants and animals it traps.

The pink color of this flamingo is due to the pigments contained in the microorganisms it feeds on. Furthermore, this coloration is essential to stimulate their reproduction.

It is one of the most sociable birds, being able to form groups of up to a million individuals, as they come together to breed, giving rise to a colorful collective courtship that gives way to copulation and the construction of mud nests. In them they lay a single white, elongated egg that they incubate for about 30 days, both the male and the female.

The chicks are fed with a special milk produced by both parents, something exceptional in birds. At three months the babies are capable of flying.

In periods when they are not breeding, sub-Saharan African populations tend to disperse to saline lakes and wetlands in the east and south of the continent, similarly, Asian populations move from their breeding grounds in lakes of inland towards coastal wetlands. In both cases the breeding season follows the rains and they form large mixed colonies with populations of lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor).

Populations in the Palearctic region are partially migratory and regularly move south to warmer regions when winter arrives. Non-reproductive individuals can remain in their wintering areas all year round. These populations reproduce from March to June in large colonies.

Juvenile individuals tend to make nomadic movements or partial migratory movements throughout their range in response to changes in water level or food availability.