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When preening, a bird (such as this red lory) draws individual feathers through its beak, realigning and re-interlocking the barbules.. Preening is a maintenance behaviour found in birds that involves the use of the beak to position feathers, interlock feather barbules that have become separated, clean plumage, and keep ectoparasites in check.
Wing clipping is the process of trimming a bird's primary wing feathers or remiges so that it is not fully flight-capable, until it moults, sheds the cut feathers, and grows new ones. This procedure is usually carried out by avian veterinarians, breeders, or the bird's owners, and primarily on pet birds like parrots.
Female birds are able to produce more of a certain gender of birds that are more likely to survive under extreme conditions. In birds, the females' egg determines the gender of the offspring, not the male's sperm. In zebra finches, a study showed the effect of food on gender ratio production. For females, egg production is a metabolically ...
In birds, this parental care system is generally attributed to the ability of male birds to engage in most parental behaviours, with the exception of egg-laying. Due to their endothermy and small size at birth, there is a huge pressure for infant birds to grow up quickly to prevent energy loss.
When these birds grow up, they are sometimes mistaken for owls, but when they are babies, they are just about the cutest little balls of floof ever. Just check out this little guy!
Altricial birds are less able to contribute nutrients in the pre-natal stage; their eggs are smaller and their young are still in need of much attention and protection from predators. This may be related to r/K selection; however, this association fails in some cases. [18] In birds, altricial young usually grow faster than precocial young.
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A dragonfly in its radical final moult, metamorphosing from an aquatic nymph to a winged adult.. In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in ...