We share the earth with a wide variety of animal species, each of which brings something special to the diversity of the planet. By knowing more about how animals behave and live, we gain a greater understanding of how life evolved and the importance of biodiversity. This volume provides a complete guide to those birds that have evolved a trait that would seem to harm their ability to survive - flightlessness. Flight has its advantages - why would some birds be flightless? Flightless Birds covers the loss of flight in birds, both permanently after years of evolution, and temporarily as a result of unusual molting behavior, and those species that are in various stages of losing their flight. The book provides a thorough guide, perfect for research papers in biology classes, for understanding the behavior and biodiversity of a fascinating and unusual group of animals. Flightless Birds includes sections on the major groups of flightless birds: Rarities whose ancient ancestors were on the continents when they broke away millions of years ago, and who survived despite competing with mammals; birds that were marooned on islands in the ocean, where food was plentiful and predators absent; penguins, which evolved alongside seas teeming with food and had no need to fly, and the special case of New Zealand's many flightless species which evolved in a predator-free paradise but could not cope with the settlers and their alien animals; and the many species which have become extinct within historic times. Beautifully illustrated, with numerous color photos, Flightless Birds provides copious material for understanding these unusual animals.
The fossil record of giant flightless birds extends back to the Late Cretaceous, more than 70 million years ago, but our understanding of these extinct birds is still incomplete. This is partly because the number of specimens available is sometimes limited, but also because widely different approaches have been used to study them, with sometimes contradictory results. This book summarizes the current knowledge of the paleobiology of seven groups of giant flightless birds: Dinornithiformes, Aepyornithiformes, Dromornithidae, Phorusrhacidae, Brontornithidae, Gastornithidae and Gargantuavis. The first chapter presents the global diversity of these birds and reviews the tools and methods used to study their paleobiology. Chapters 2 to 8 are each dedicated to one of the seven groups of extinct birds. Finally, a conclusion offers a global synthesis of the information presented in the book in an attempt to define a common evolutionary model. - Focuses on the giant flightless birds that evolved independently in different parts of the world since the Cretaceous period - Covers a number of different families with different evolutionary histories, providing a source of interesting comparisons - Provides emphasis on the palaeobiology of these birds, including their evolution, adaptations, mode of life, ecology and extinction
"Witty and clever. This novel really does sparkle." Roddy DoyleFrom debut author Kelly McCaughrain comes a sweet and kooky romcom for fans of R. J. Palacio's Wonder, Sarah Crossan, and Susin Nielsen's We Are All Made of Molecules. Twins Finch and Birdie Franconi are stars of the flying trapeze. But when Birdie suffers a terrifying accident, Finch must team up with the geeky new kid, Hector Hazzard, to form an all-boys double act and save the family circus school. Together they learn to walk the high-wire of teen life and juggle the demands of friends, family, first love and facing up to who they are - all served up with a dash of circus-showbiz magic.
See what an ostrich has in common with a secretary bird. Learn what sets an ostrich apart from a merlin. Readers will compare key traits of ostriches—their appearance, behavior, habitat, and life cycle—to traits of other birds. Charts and sidebars support key ideas and provide details. Through gathering information about similarities and differences, readers will make connections and draw conclusions about what makes this animal a bird and how birds are alike and different from each other.
Over millions of years, Australia's unique biodiversity has produced a large cabinet of curiosities. Among the weirder members of this group were the Mihirungs, members of the now extinct family Dromornithidae. Made up of several genera of flightless birds—among them one of the very largest birds that ever lived—the dromornithids ranged from 60-kilogram beasts, 1.5 meters tall, to giants twice that size, weighing nearly half a metric ton. They were, by orders of magnitude, the largest "geese" that ever lived. One species was comparable in size to the Ele-phantbird of Madagascar and the Giant Moa of New Zealand. This book is the first major study of this unique and highly diverse group. It aims to present as complete a synthesis as possible of current information about this fascinating family of birds.
*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts about the dodo *Includes a bibliography for further reading "The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for." - Willy Cuppy, 19th century American humorist and literary critic At one point or another, just about everyone has heard of the dodo bird, which is almost universally described as a cuddly, whimsical creature renowned for its alleged stupidity. This prehistoric avian had been known for hundreds of years before it was made popular around the world in Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The character, the Dodo, satirized the author himself - according to pop culture lore, Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, regarded the dodo as his spirit animal due to his alleged stutter, which led to him often presenting himself as "Do-do-dodgson." Carroll was also a frequent patron of the Oxford Museum of Natural History, which served as a fount of inspiration for his memorable anthropomorphic characters. The 1951 Disney animation, Alice in Wonderland, breathed new life into Carroll's Dodo, portrayed as a plump, peach-faced creature with a bulbous pink beak, clad in a purple waistcoat, a powdered wig, and a pipe dangling out of his beak. Like its real-life counterparts, the Dodo was depicted as a flightless bird who crossed paths with Alice, bobbing along inside of a bottle upon the open sea. Owing to its inability to fly, the Dodo uses an upside-down toucan as his boat, and the Dodo is being maneuvered by a green hawk furiously flapping its wings, serving as the boat's propeller. The dimwitted, carefree dodo also made various appearances in film and TV shows over the years, such as Yoyo Dodo in the 1938 black-and-white animation Porky in Wackyland, the short-lived stop-motion animated series Rocky and the Dodos, and the 2002 animated film Ice Age, which depicts the dodos as a silly, clumsy troop of birds who fail to guard three small watermelons. Indeed, the dodo's presence in literature, picture books, music, video games, and general pop culture has been so prevalent that it has secured its own entry on TV Tropes, where it is infamously immortalized as the "Dumb Dodo." This only scratches the surface of the string of misconceptions that has plagued the delightfully peculiar bird for centuries. Along with its stereotypical depictions in literature, film, and other mediums of pop culture, a number of idioms playing on the bird's alleged idiocy, as well as the supposed role it played in its own extinction, have become irreversibly cemented in the English lexicon. "Dodo" and the even less tactful "dumb dodo" are slang terms directed at dense individuals, an explicit reference to the bird's sluggish reflexes and supposedly pint-sized brain. One may have also come across a business venture or a fad that has "gone the way of the dodo" or is "as dead as a dodo," meaning that the venture has become defunct, obsolete, or a thing of the past, most likely due to reckless and half-baked business practices. The phrase "deaf to reality like a dodo" has also been thrown around quite frequently in recent years, used to describe individuals who are overly trusting and blissfully ignorant of unpalatable facts and ugly truths. But were the dodo birds truly as simple-minded as they are often portrayed? And what were the actual factors behind the zany avian's extinction? The Dodo: The History and Legacy of the Extinct Flightless Bird looks at the origins of the bird, human contact with it, and how the species went extinct. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the dodo like never before.
A heavily designed and stunning look at the many birds of the sky--perfect for fans of Botanicum. From the bitter cold polar regions to the lush tropics, birds have found incredible ways to adapt and survive anywhere. White-winged diuca finches nest high upon freezing glaciers and mightly peregrine falcons circle skyscrapers in busy cities. Look up! What birds can do is extraordinary. The statuesque golden eagle spots prey from miles away. You can tell what time of day an owl hunts by looking at the color of its eyes. With its long, muscular legs, the secretary bird has a powerful kick that is enough to kill large prey like snakes and hares. Discover which bird is the fastest, the smallest, the smartest, the most colorful and more in this nonfiction compendium, complete with descriptions from wildlife expert Miranda Krestovnikoff and stunning linocuts from artist Angela Harding.
An exploration of all that is known about the origin of birds and of avian flight. It draws on fossil evidence and studies of the structure and biochemistry of living birds to present knowledge and data on avian evolution and to propose a new model of this evolutionary process.
Birds of the world are portrayed in all their colorful glory by Tim Flach, the world’s leading animal photographer Radiating grace, intelligence, and humor, and always in motion, birds tantalize the human imagination. Working for years in his studio and the field, Tim Flach has portrayed nature’s most exquisite creatures alertly at rest or dramatically in flight, capturing intricate feather patterns and subtle coloration invisible to the naked eye. From familiar friends to marvelous rarities, Flach’s birds convey the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Here are all manner of songbirds, parrots, and birds of paradise; birds of prey, water birds, and theatrical domestic breeds. The brilliant ornithologist Richard O. Prum is our guide to this magical kingdom.
