h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just a quickie, I don't anticipate a long forum.

What colour is a flamingos tongue and why?

No Google or Wikipedia.

In addition - very important this - NO LISTS. That means no rattling off lists of colours, I want this to have *some* longevity, so an additional rule:

Propose a colour and a reason in a full sentence.

That shouldn't be too hard.

Klaxons as usual, so be bold, preferably interesting but never obvious.

I'm going to guess black, because that's the colour of parrots' tongues.

TRiG.

Off to a good start, thanks TRiG.

Not black.

Flamingo tongues are 'flamingo tongue'. This is, by definition, the colour of the tongue of a flamingo.

In layman's words, I would guess, let's see.... Deep sea? Some dark blueish, veering towards the grey.

Ok, read: "blue". And the tonges would be blue for the same reason why octopus's blood is blue*.



Oh no, just a moment, aren't you colour-blind Clive? So: grey

* and presumably smurfs.

"Tonge" is the technical term for a flamingo tongue, obviously

A stream of consciousness from Toybox!


Only if they were green or pink or possibly blue... or grey.

Why is an octopus's blood blue - for points.

"Octopuses (and other molluscs) have blue blood. It's a sign of just how distant they are from us in the tree of life; their blood has evolved completely separately. The chemistry is completely different, being based on copper rather than iron. This gives it a blue colour when it is charged with oxygen, rather than a red one."

From A2818659, so no googling here

So, not blue?

Very good. Have a QI Bonus for being Interesting.

Not blue and not for the same reason as Octopuses.

Wait, do flamingos even have tongues? Don't they eat er, krill? No, that's whales. Something like that, though. Little floaty things from the water that turn them pink. But presumably, they still need a tongue to swallow.

I won't start with octopuses' three hearts then. It's not a cephalopod thread after all.

Why would flamingos have an Interesting tongue colour? They do have a tongue, it's not a trick question, right?

Let's try yellow, because that would be the most unlikely colour I would expect for an animal organ. And it could be due to something in their diet?

Do flamingos even have tongues?

" ! " - the sound of a thousand ornithologists gasping at once.

Bold.

Not yellow.

Rainbow?

Er, scratch that. Purple? Because thay drink too much red wine?

Consider that scratched.

Try again - this is Quite Interesting, not Quiet Improbable!

I am very interested in birds!!!


As they say on 'Dragon's Den'........"I'm out!!"



GT

Don't be too hasty Gt.

OK, I'll try (dark) green. I don't know what they feed on, or what sort of blood they have, but there are flamingoes in front of Frankfurt Zoo, and I don't think they feed on fish, so maybe they feed on algae?

Juniper? Drizzle? Sweet potato? Bayou?

Sorry, just some memories of Monkey Island bobbing up...

It could be white then. Because for some reason they cannot stick it out?

Ah, plankton, not krill! I think.

The old illustrations of them eating fish are wrong, anyway.