Ad
related to: general characteristics of birds
Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (Latin: [ˈaveːs]), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton.
Most birds have approximately 175 different muscles, mainly controlling the wings, skin, and legs. Overall, the muscle mass of birds is concentrated ventrally. The largest muscles in the bird are the pectorals, or the pectoralis major, which control the wings and make up about 15–25% of a flighted bird's body weight.
Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and ...
omnivores (sometimes called general feeders): birds that forage for a variety of both plant and meat food sources, such as pheasants, tinamouses and quails. More birds fall under the omnivore classification than any other. [146] piscivores: birds that forage for and eat fish and other sea life, such as darters, loons, pelicans, penguins and storks.
The anatomy of bird legs and feet is diverse, encompassing many accommodations to perform a wide variety of functions. [1] Most birds are classified as digitigrade animals, meaning they walk on their toes rather than the entire foot. [3][4] Some of the lower bones of the foot (the distals and most of the metatarsal) are fused to form the ...
Strigidae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist. Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes[1] (/ ˈstrɪdʒəfɔːrmiːz /), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight.
List of birds. Penguins. Ostriches. This article lists living orders and families of birds. In total there are about 10,000 species of birds described worldwide, though one estimate of the real number places it at almost twice that. [1] The order passerines (perching birds) alone accounts for well over 5,000 species.
The main article for this category is Bird. Birds are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrates characterized primarily by feathers, forelimbs modified as wings, and hollow bones. This category contains taxa at the order or higher level in the class of Aves. For individual species of birds, see the subcategories, particularly category:Birds ...
Ad
related to: general characteristics of birds