Birds are descendants of dinosaurs: 36 interesting facts about birds
Birds are fascinating creatures that have mastered the airspace of our planet and confidently rule it. They can be wild or domestic, and some of them cannot fly, having other advantages. Kiwis virtually do not have wings, and penguins use theirs as flippers. Scientists have counted over 10,000 species of birds living on all continents and many islands.
Interesting facts about birds
● It is believed that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs, and archaeologists indeed find skeletons of early birds similar in structure to lizards. Even feathers, which cover birds' bodies, are just modified scales!
● Everyone has seen chicken eggs with two yolks. In practice, the number of yolks in an egg (in general) can reach up to 9. They might not all fit in a chicken egg, but they can in an ostrich egg. It takes almost 2 hours to boil an ostrich egg fully.
● Birds have very light bones, but their feathers weigh more than their skeleton.
● Birds are social animals that communicate with each other using visual and sound signals, and sometimes engage in communal activities such as nesting, joint hunting, or protection from predators.
● Birds inhabit all ecosystems on the planet, including Antarctica.
● Science knows over 10,000 species of currently existing birds, making them the most diverse group of animals.
● The science that studies birds is called ornithology.
● The smallest bird species in the world is the bee hummingbird, with a body length not exceeding 5.7 cm.
● Hummingbirds are the only birds in the world that can fly backward.
● According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most dangerous bird on Earth is the cassowary. Normally calm, if disturbed, it can deliver a dangerous kick with its powerful legs, which have huge claws capable of killing a person with one blow.
● The largest bird is the African ostrich, reaching up to 2.7 m in height and weighing up to 150 kilograms.
● The bird with the largest wingspan among living birds is the wandering albatross, with a wingspan of up to 325 cm.
● Owls cannot move their eyes; instead, they turn their heads up to 270° without harm.
● The kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its beak. This helps them sniff out food on the ground. They often snort to clear their nostrils of accumulated dust and soil.
● The most talkative bird is considered the African grey parrot (jaco). On average, it can remember over 1500 words.
● In old times, miners often took a canary in a cage into the mine and watched the bird during work. If it suddenly showed signs of distress or fell, people quickly left the mine. Canaries are very sensitive to gas and can die from even a small amount in the air.
● A pelican's throat pouch can hold up to 5 liters of water.
● Due to the high energy expenditure of flight, birds have an extremely high metabolism and a huge need for food. Their daily food intake ranges from 12-28% of their total body weight.
● Birds do not have sweat glands. Body cooling is achieved through a highly developed respiratory system.
● The bird with the most feathers is the tundra swan (whistling swan). They have up to 25,000 feathers.
● Since feathers require careful maintenance, birds spend about 9% of their time each day grooming them. Birds use their beaks for grooming. Only one bird cannot do this: the sword-billed hummingbird, with such a long beak that it has to clean its feathers with its foot instead of its beak.
● Flamingos, storks, and other long-legged birds stand on one leg to minimize heat loss in the wind. Due to their featherless legs, heat loss is significant, so birds try to keep their legs warm alternately under their feathers.
● The respiratory system of birds is considered one of the most complex among all animal groups because their bodies require enhanced gas exchange during flight.
● New Caledonian crows are one of the few species capable of not only using but also making tools, which they use to extract insect larvae from under the bark.
● Some birds have unique hunting methods. For example, green herons throw a leaf, twig, or feather into the water and follow it downstream, waiting for fish to be attracted to the "bait."
● In 1958, a large-scale campaign was conducted in China to exterminate sparrows as agricultural pests. According to incomplete statistics, 1.96 billion sparrows were killed. However, this fight led to a massive spread of insect pests.
● Monuments to sparrows have been erected by humans in gratitude for their help in fighting insect pests. The first such monument was erected in the mid-19th century in Boston.
● Large birds of prey can live up to 50 years. For example, the wandering albatross.
● Some bird species have a field of view reaching almost 360°.
● Most bird species have poorly developed sense of smell and practically do not distinguish odors.
● Birds exhibit pronounced anatomical differences between males and females of the same species. This phenomenon is called sexual dimorphism.
● Seabirds can drink seawater thanks to special glands that excrete excess salt.
● Birds are highly attentive to their offspring — besides building nests and incubating eggs, they also feed, warm, and protect their chicks from the weather.
● It is a common misconception that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when scared. In reality, they lower their heads to the ground to swallow sand or gravel. Ostriches pick up small stones from the ground to improve their digestion. They also drop their heads to the ground after a long chase when they are too exhausted to run or even hold their heads up.
● The black tern can spend from 3 to 10 years at sea. During this time, it practically does not rest, as it lacks webbed feet and cannot rest on the water like other terns. If a black tern lands anywhere, it is only on random floating objects.
● Chickens are the most common domestic bird, with a population exceeding 50 billion worldwide.
