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The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape and color, they share a similar underlying structure.
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and carrying objects, killing prey, or fighting), preening, courtship, and feeding young.
Toucan beaks are responsible for only one twentieth of the entire mass of the creature allowing the bird to fly even with its massive beak. [12] As previously mentioned, the keratin shell and closed-cell foam organization in the toucan beak plays a role in the beak's characteristic energy absorption, compressive resistance, high stiffness and ...
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.
Bird ringing is the term used in the UK and in some other parts of Europe, while the term bird banding is more often used in the U.S. and Australia. [49] bird strike The impact of a bird or birds with an airplane in flight. [50] body down The layer of small, fluffy down feathers that lie underneath the outer contour feathers on a bird's body. [51]
Gannets can achieve speeds of 100 km/h (62.13 mph) as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish at a much greater depth than most airborne birds. [ 5 ] The gannet's supposed capacity for eating large quantities of fish has led to "gannet" becoming a description of somebody with a voracious appetite.
In the United States, 53 bird flu cases have been identified in humans and there are ongoing outbreaks in dairy cattle, sporadic outbreaks in poultry and widespread infections in wild birds.
The use of bird skins to document species has been a standard part of systematic ornithology. Bird skins are prepared by retaining the key bones of the wings, legs, and skull along with the skin and feathers. In the past, they were treated with arsenic to prevent fungal and insect (mostly dermestid) attack.