Lesser Flamingo - Guinea




Phoenicopterus minor - The lesser flamingo is the smallest of the six extant flamingo species, but it is the most abundant in numbers. Though the smallest, it is an impressive bird, standing at 90 centimeters for males and 80 centimeters for females. Flamingos lay one egg per breeding cycle; the egg hatches in approximately 28 days. Despite their large numbers, the lesser flamingo is declining in population as a result of their low reproductive rate and lack of suitable breeding sites.

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Guinea is one of three African countries named after the Gulf of Guinea; the other two are Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. The French colony of Rivières du Sud was established in 1882, after a coastal section of French controlled Senegal was separated into its own colony. It became Guinée française in 1894, as part of the collective French West Africa. In 1958, a new French government implemented a change in its colonial policies, resulting in Guinea becoming an independent country.