You are what you eat - that's totally about the flamingo. Many plants produce natural red, yellow, or orange pigments, called carotenoids - that is what gives carrots their orange color or turns ripe tomatoes red. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimps eat. As a flamingo eats algae and these shrimps, its body takes the pigments and turns the feathers pink. Origami pink Flower and Flamingo cursor.