I was wondering, I know phoenix is a mythical creature but is it herbivore or a carnivore or perhaps an omnivore like if it's real what do you think it'll eat but if I look at the beak and claws it's similar to an eagle I think?
great news, phoenixes aren’t actually mythical creatures at all!
in fact, here’s one right now:
that’s right, the myth of the phoenix was very likely started by this actual real bird, in Africa! right on the border of Tanzania and Kenya, actually.
riiight about… HERE.
this is Lake Natron.
Lake Natron is an alkaline salt lake of volcanic origin, where the water is as caustic as pure ammonia and can be hotter than a sauna at 140 F!
what lives here? not much. just the extremophile bacteria that gives the water and salt flats their pink tint, really.
oh, and these guys.
that’s right, if you’re a Lesser Flamingo, this volcanic hellscape is home sweet home! they live in the lake year-round, feeding on the bacteria that they painstakingly filter out of the near-boiling waters with their hooked beaks.
and at some point, some traveling humans presumably noticed a flock of giant pink birds taking flight from a poisonous and hard-to-reach bright-red hellscape, with billowing clouds of steam that might have looked like smoke from a distance, and took word to the nearest settlement. and from there the tale passed on through the old world, eventually growing into the legend of the bird that sets itself alight to be reborn that we know and love today!
so, yeah! phoenixes eat cyanobacteria.
surprise?