Flamingos eat with their heads upside down.

Certain animal behaviors seem so unusual to us that they feel a bit upside-down, but when it comes to a flamingo’s eating habits, that sentiment gets literal. These flamboyant fliers enjoy meals in a manner that would leave any dietician perplexed, flipping their heads and beaks roughly 180 degrees vertically when it’s time to chow down.

When it’s time to eat, flamingos bend their necks and dip their heads into the water, angling their L-shaped beaks upside down. From there, fluid dynamics take the reins. Flamingos rapidly open and close their beaks, creating a spinning vortex that sucks in water teeming with delicious prey such as shrimp and algae. The concave shape of their angled beaks also helps keep the food contained inside the birds’ mouths until fully consumed.