Bird
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Birds (class Aves) are winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) Bee Hummingbird to the 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) Ostrich. The fossil record indicates that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, around 150–200 Ma (million years ago), and the earliest known bird is the Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx, c 155–150 Ma. Most paleontologists regard birds as the only clade of dinosaurs that survived the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event approximately 65.5 Ma.
Modern birds are characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. All birds have forelimbs modified as wings and most can fly, with some exceptions including ratites, penguins, and a number of diverse endemic island species. Birds also have unique digestive and respiratory systems that are highly adapted for flight. Some birds, especially corvids and parrots, are among the most intelligent animal species; a number of bird species have been observed manufacturing and using tools, and many social species exhibit cultural transmission of knowledge across generations.
Many species undertake long distance annual migrations, and many more perform shorter irregular movements. Birds are social; they communicate using visual signals and through calls and songs, and participate in social behaviours including cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years, but rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous ("many females") or, rarely, polyandrous ("many males"). Eggs are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching.
Many species are of economic importance, mostly as sources of food acquired through hunting or farming. Some species, particularly songbirds and parrots, are popular as pets. Other uses include the harvesting of guano (droppings) for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure prominently in all aspects of human culture from religion to poetry to popular music. About 120–130 species have become extinct as a result of human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Currently about 1,200 species of birds are threatened with extinction by human activities, though efforts are underway to protect them.
For more information about Bird, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with birds
Long feared extinct, rare bird rediscovered
Oct 13, 2009 |
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Known to science only by two specimens described in 1900, a critically endangered crow has re-emerged on a remote, mountainous Indonesian island thanks in part to a Michigan State University scientist.
Inside the First Bird, Surprising Signs of a Dinosaur
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The raptor-like Archaeopteryx has long been viewed as the archetypal first bird, but new research reveals that it was actually a lot less “bird-like” than scientists had believed.
Making a clean getaway: Scientists demonstrate how bird baths make for more accurate flyers
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Newcastle University scientists investigating why starlings bathe so often have discovered it alters their escape behaviour, with clean birds proving the most accurate flyers.
Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 11, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast's eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said Friday.
Great Tit Turns Out to be a Killer
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Great Tit is an aggressive songbird found in Britain, continental Europe, parts of Northern Africa, and much of Asia. It is believed to survive mostly on seeds, nuts, fruit, insects, beetles, ...
Canadian scientist aims to turn chickens into dinosaurs
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Aug 25, 2009 |
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After years spent hunting for the buried remains of prehistoric animals, a Canadian paleontologist now plans to manipulate chicken embryos to show he can create a dinosaur.
Aesop's fable 'the crow and the pitcher' more fact than fiction (w/ Video)
Aug 06, 2009 |
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In Aesop's fable 'The crow and the pitcher' a thirsty crow uses stones to raise the level of water in a pitcher to quench its thirst. A new study published online today (06 August) in the journal Current Bi ...
Trees evolved camouflage defense against long extinct predator: First evidence of camouflage defense in plants
Jul 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Many animal species such as snakes, insects and fish have evolved camouflage defences to deter attack from their predators. However research published in New Phytologist has discovered that t ...
Necessity is the mother of invention for clever birds (w/Videos)
May 25, 2009 |
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Researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Queen Mary, University of London have found that rooks, a member of the crow family, are capable of using and making tools, modifying them to make them work and using two tools ...
Mockingbirds, no bird brains, can recognize a face in a crowd
May 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The birds are watching. They know who you are. And they will attack. Nope, not Hitchcock. It's science.
Birds can dance, really
Apr 30, 2009 |
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Researchers at Harvard University have found that humans aren't the only ones who can groove to a beat -- some other species can dance, too. This capability was previously believed to be specific to humans. ...
Sons or daughters? Female finches use head colour to decide
Mar 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers studying the behaviour of the stunningly coloured Gouldian finch have made an exciting discovery - females of the species deliberately overproduce sons when breeding with a male ...
Giant bird feces records pre-human New Zealand
Biology /
Jan 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A treasure trove of information about pre-human New Zealand has been found in faeces from giant extinct birds, buried beneath the floor of caves and rock shelters for thousands of years.
Birds Call to Warn Friends and Enemies
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Birds' alarm calls serve both to alert other birds to danger and to warn off predators. And some birds can pull a ventriloquist's trick, singing from the side of their mouths, according to a UC Davis study.
By feeding the birds, you could change their evolutionary fate
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Feeding birds in winter is a most innocent human activity, but it can nonetheless have profound effects on the evolutionary future of a species, and those changes can be seen in the very near term. That's ...
