The South American Puna Flamingo is also known as James's Flamingo (so named for Harry Berkeley James) and Lesser Andean Flamingo.  It received its common name "Puna" from its natural habitat - "puna" is the local word for high Andean plateau. The flamingo's characteristic pink / salmon-colored plumage is caused by their beta carotene-rich diet.

The Puna Flamingos occur on the high Andean plateaus of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina where they usually occur at altitudes of over 3,000 m (9,900 ft).
Together with the other South American flamingos -- namely the Andean Flamingos and Chilean Flamingos, they inhabit salt lakes and lagoons in the Andean mountains, After the breeding season, most migrate to lower attitudes for the winter. Some remain at lakes near hot springs.

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The South American Puna Flamingo is also known as James's Flamingo (so named for Harry Berkeley James) and Lesser Andean Flamingo.  It received its common name "Puna" from its natural habitat - "puna" is the local word for high Andean plateau. The flamingo's characteristic pink / salmon-colored plumage is caused by their beta carotene-rich diet.

The Puna Flamingos occur on the high Andean plateaus of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina where they usually occur at altitudes of over 3,000 m (9,900 ft).
Together with the other South American flamingos -- namely the Andean Flamingos and Chilean Flamingos, they inhabit salt lakes and lagoons in the Andean mountains, After the breeding season, most migrate to lower attitudes for the winter. Some remain at lakes near hot springs.

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The only salt-making facilities using salt from the Salar de Uyuni are located in Colchani – a cooperative joint-owned by all salt workers. There is an estimated 10 billion tonnes of salt contained in the Salar de Uyuni, with around 25,000 tonnes excavated and processed at Colchani annually.

They scrape salt off the salar into pyramid-shaped piles and leave it to dry in the sun. Once dry (after 4 days or so) the salt is shoveled into trucks and carted to Colchani to be processed. It is cooked in ovens to dry further, then iodine is added and the mixture milled before being sealed into 1 kilogram sacks. The final product – table salt – is sold by the cooperative in Bolivia and Brazil.