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Flightless birds are birds that cannot fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. [1] There are over 60 extant species, [2] including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwis) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail (length 12.5 cm, weight 34.7
It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a reported lifespan of up to 100 years. [5] Adult males weigh around 1.5–3 kilograms (3.3–6.6 lb); the equivalent figure for females is 0.950–1.6 kilograms (2.09–3.53 lb). The anatomy of the kākāpō typifies the tendency of bird-evolution on oceanic islands.
Dromornis is a genus of large to enormous prehistoric birds native to Australia during the Oligocene to Pliocene epochs. The species were flightless, possessing greatly reduced wing structures but with large legs, similar to the modern ostrich or emu.
[4] [5] The modern bird superorder Palaeognathae consists of ratites and the flighted Neotropic tinamous (compare to Neognathae). [6] Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum—hence the name, from the Latin ratis ('raft', a vessel which has no keel—in contradistinction to extant flighted birds with a keel). [7]
In this list of birds by common name 11,278 extant and recently extinct (since 1500) bird species are recognised. [1] Species marked with a "†" are extinct. Contents
According to the official website of the Queensland Government, it is the “heaviest flightless bird” in Australia, and the only one among the three known cassowary species found in the country.
In his 1958 book Living Birds of the World, ornithologist Ernest Thomas Gilliard wrote: The inner or second of the three toes is fitted with a long, straight, murderous nail which can sever an arm or eviscerate an abdomen with ease. There are many records of natives being killed by this bird. [72]
Fictional flightless birds (5 C, 10 P) P. Penguins (4 C, 33 P) R. Ratites (10 C, 49 P) S. Struthioniformes (1 C, 6 P) Pages in category "Flightless birds"