Species
Aves
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Dresser Henry Eeles. A history of the birds of Europe, includig all the species inhabiting the western palaeartic region. London, self published 1871-1881 (vols.1-8), 1895-1896 (vol.9 Supplement). 9 vols. in 4to. 723 very fine coloured plates.
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Rights holder/Author | Renato Agazzi, Renato Agazzi |
Source | https://sites.google.com/site/mmslouisc/ |
Dresser Henry Eeles. A history of the birds of Europe, includig all the species inhabiting the western palaeartic region. London, self published 1871-1881 (vols.1-8), 1895-1896 (vol.9 Supplement). 9 vols. in 4to. 723 very fine coloured plates.
License | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Renato Agazzi, Renato Agazzi |
Source | https://sites.google.com/site/mmslouisc/ |
Aves is the latin name for the birds - feathered, winged, bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying, vertebrate animals with evolutionary origins among the reptiles. The taxon has been historically treated as equal to fish, amphibia, reptiles and mammals, but in order to make classifications reflect evolutionary history, they are now more usually regarded as falling inside the Reptilia. Around 10,000 living species makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from the 5 cm Bee Hummingbird to the 2.75 m Ostrich. The fossil record indicates that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, around 160 million years (Ma) ago. Birds are the only clade of dinosaurs to have survived the CretaceousâPaleogene extinction event 65.5 Ma ago.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 living species of birds have wings. Wings are evolved forelimbs, and most bird species can fly; exceptions include the ostriches, emus and relatives, penguins, and some endemic island species. Birds also have unique digestive and respiratory systems that are well suited to their flying needs. 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 transmit knowledge across generations. Many species undertake long distance annual migrations, and many more perform shorter irregular movements.Many species are social and 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, and rarely for life. Other species have polygynous (\"many females\") or, rarely, polyandrous (\"many males\") breeding systems. 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 120â130 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.
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Rights holder/Author | David, BioPedia |
Source | http://starcentral.mbl.edu/biopedia/portal.php?pagetitle=classification&BLOCKID=12&CHILDID=1 |
Fluid protects eggs: birds
Albumen, the fluid in bird eggs, protects the chick by being elastic and incompressible.
"The egg's shock absorption, which has received little investigation, is based on the fact that the embryo is surrounded by the albumen, an elastic gelatin-Iike substance of high water content. The result is a propitious combination of properties: a liquid that cannot be compressed, only displaced, and an elastic substance. When the embryo is pushed against the shell by some forceful impact, the liquid must flow past it and transform the destructive energy into heat. The shock absorption of the egg is further improved by an air cushion located at the thick end of the egg--the same end as the center of gravity. In a falling body the center of gravity moves to the lowest possible point, so in an egg the embryo falls on the air cushion. The air pocket in the egg has another mechanical function. It prevents temperature fluctuations from cracking the shell." (Tributsch 1984:22)
"However ordinary it may seem to us, the egg of a chicken has about fifteen thousand pores resembling dimples on a golf ball. The spongy structure of smaller eggs can only be observed under the microscope. These spongy structures give eggs added flexibility and increase their resistance to impact…An egg is a miracle of packaging. It supplies all the nutrients and water that the developing foetus needs. The yolk of the egg stores protein, fats, vitamins and minerals, and the white works as a reservoir of fluid…The developing chick needs to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. It also requires a source of heat, calcium for its bone development, protection of its fluids, protection against bacteria and physical impact. The eggshell provides all of these for the chick, which breathes through a membranous sac that develops in the embryo. Blood vessels in this sac bring oxygen to the embryo and take carbon dioxide away." (Yahya 2002:69)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Tributsch, H. 1984. How life learned to live. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 218 p.
- Harun Yahya. 2002. Design in Nature. London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd. 180 p.
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Air flow system, sacs provide efficient gas exchange: birds
The respiratory system of birds efficiently transports oxygen via unidirectional air flow and air sac reservoirs.
"The respiratory system of birds is different in both structure and function from the respiratory system of mammals. Avian lungs are small, compact, spongy structures molded among the ribs on either side of the spine in the chest cavity. The dense tissues of avian lungs weigh as much as the lungs of mammals of equal body weight but occupy only about half the volume. Healthy bird lungs are well vascularized and light pink in color.
"Avian lungs are unique in that the air flows in only one direction, rather than in and out as in other vertebrates. How do birds control the air so that it flows through their lungs when they can only inhale and exhale through one trachea? The solution is a surprising combination of unique anatomical features and the manipulation of airflow. Supplementing the lungs is an elaborate system of interconnected air sacs, not present in mammals…Most birds inhale air through nostrils, or nares, at the base of the bill…Inhaled air moves next down the trachea, or windpipe, which divides into two bronchi and in turn into many subdividing stems and branches in each lung…Most of the lung tissue comprises roughly 1800 smaller interconnecting tertiary bronchi. These bronchi lead into tiny air capillaries that intertwine with blood capillaries, where gases are exchanged.
"Inhaled air proceeds through two respiratory cycles that, together, consist of four steps. Most of the air inhaled in step 1 passes through the primary bronchi to the posterior air sacs…In step 2, the exhalation phase of this first breath, the inhaled air moves from the posterior air sacs into the lungs. There, oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange takes place as inhaled air flows through the air-capillary system. The net time that the bird inhales, step 3, the oxygen-depleted air moves from the lungs into the anterior air sacs. The second and final exhalation, step 4, expels CO2-rich air from the anterior air sacs, bronchi, and trachea back into the atmosphere.
"This series of four steps maximizes contact of fresh air with the respiratory surfaces of the lung. Most importantly, a bird replaces nearly all the air in its lungs with each breath. No residual air is left in the lungs during the ventilation cycle of birds, as it is in mammals. By transferring more air and air higher in oxygen content during each breath, birds achieve a more efficient rate of gas exchange than do mammals…The air-sac system is an inconspicuous, but integral, part of the avian respiratory system…Air sacs are thin-walled (only one or two cell layers thick) structures that extend into the body cavity and into the wing and leg bones…The air sacs make possible the continuous, unidirectional, efficient flow of air through the lungs." (Gill 2007:143-147)
(See gallery for illustration)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Gill FB. 2007. Ornithology. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. 758 p.
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Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
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Feather parts reattach: birds
Feather filaments of birds connect to each other with interlocking hooks.
"A central shaft carries on either side a hundred or so filaments; each filament is similarly fringed with about a hundred smaller filaments or barbules. In downy feathers, this structure produces a soft, air-trapping fluffiness and, therefore, superb insulation. Flight feathers have an additional feature. Their barbules overlap those of neighbouring filaments and hook them onto one another so that they are united into a continuous vane. There are several hundred such hooks on a single barbule, a million or so in a single feather; and a bird the size of a swan has about twenty-five thousand feathers." (Attenborough 1979:173)
"Disarranged feathers are carefully repositioned. Those that have become bedraggled or have broken vanes are renovated by careful combing with the beak. As the filaments pass through the mandibles and are pressed together, the hooks on the barbules reengage like teeth of a zip-fastener to make a smooth and continuous surface again." (Attenborough 1979:179)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Attenborough, D. 1995. The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behavior. London: BBC Books. 320 p.
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Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
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Beak size optimized for thermal regulation: birds
The beak size of birds is optimized for thermal regulation because they vary in size relative to latitude and environmental temperature, a concept called Allen's rule.
"Allen's rule proposes that the appendages of endotherms are smaller, relative to body size, in colder climates, in order to reduce heat loss. Empirical support for Allen's rule is mainly derived from occasional reports of geographical clines in extremity size of individual species. Interspecific evidence is restricted to two studies of leg proportions in seabirds and shorebirds. We used phylogenetic comparative analyses of 214 bird species to examine whether bird bills, significant sites of heat exchange, conform to Allen's rule. The species comprised eight diverse taxonomic groups—toucans, African barbets, Australian parrots, estrildid finches, Canadian galliforms, penguins, gulls, and terns. Across all species, there were strongly significant relationships between bill length and both latitude and environmental temperature, with species in colder climates having significantly shorter bills. Patterns supporting Allen's rule in relation to latitudinal or altitudinal distribution held within all groups except the finches. Evidence for a direct association with temperature was found within four groups (parrots, galliforms, penguins, and gulls). Support for Allen's rule in leg elements was weaker, suggesting that bird bills may be more susceptible to thermoregulatory constraints generally. Our results provide the strongest comparative support yet published for Allen's rule and demonstrate that thermoregulation has been an important factor in shaping the evolution of bird bills." (Symonds and Tattersall 2010:188)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Symonds MRE; Tattersall GJ. 2010. Geographical variation in bill size across bird species provides evidence for Allen’s rule. The American Naturalist. 176(2): 188-97.
- The University of Melbourne. 2010. Birds reduce their heating bills in cold climates. The Melbourne Newsroom [Internet],
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Preening waterproofs feathers: birds
The uropygial gland of birds protects them from water penetration, fungi, and bacteria by producing preen waxes.
"In addition to the stratum corneum barrier, glandular lipids are deposited exteriorly to the epidermis in both mammals and birds (Hadley, 1991)…In birds, 'preen waxes' from the uropygial gland are spread over feathers to prevent water penetration and ingress of bacteria and fungi. Uropygial secretions contain a complex mixture of lipids in which wax esters usually predominate…In birds and mammals, plumage and pelage appear to impede significantly the passage of water vapor from skin to atmosphere, although the skin remains the principal barrier to TEWL [transepidermal water loss] (Cena and Clark, 1979; Webster et al., 1985). In pigeons, for example, plumage contributes 5–20% of total resistance to water loss through the integument, and the plumage and boundary layer together account for 6–26% of total resistance to water vapor diffusion (Webster et al., 1985). Therefore, adjustments of plumage or pelage and seasonal shedding patterns are potential means of adjusting rates of TEWL." (Lillywhite 2006:219)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Lillywhite, H. B. 2006. Water relations of tetrapod integument. Journal of Experimental Biology. 209(2): 202-226.
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Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
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Bones absorb compression shock: birds
The fused pelvic vertebrae, or synsacrum, of a flying bird absorbs compression shock whenever the bird lands at high speed.
"Several features of the bird skeleton are specially designed for life in the air. The pelvic vertebrae are fused into a solid mass of light bone, the synsacrum, which provides support for the independent movement of wings and legs, and absorbs the compression shock that occurs every time a bird lands on its feet at speed." (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:39)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Foy, Sally; Oxford Scientific Films. 1982. The Grand Design: Form and Colour in Animals. Lingfield, Surrey, U.K.: BLA Publishing Limited for J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd, Aldine House, London. 238 p.
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Er zijn veel soorten vogels, maar ze hebben allemaal vleugels en veren. Vogelbotten zijn hol en licht. Daardoor kost het een vogel minder moeite om in de lucht te blijven. De veren van vogels gaan geen leven lang mee. Eén keer in de zoveel tijd ruien de vogels en krijgen ze nieuwe veren. Dan kunnen ze even niet vliegen.
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Rights holder/Author | Ecomare |
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