Birds live on almost every centimeter of the planet, their homes can be found in the frozen expanses of Antarctica and in the tropical rainforests of South America. We see birds every day and usually do not pay attention to them. But these beautiful feathered creatures are amazing and full of mysteries. Introducing you Top 10 most interesting facts about birds.
10. Birds do not have a bladder
In order to reduce the weight of the bird's body, nature deprived his bladder. Instead of producing liquid urine, birds produce a white pasty substance. However, the ostrich, although it does not have a bladder, differs from all other birds in that it has a special compartment for feces and urine in its body.
9. Feathers and dinosaurs
The main types of living creatures can be distinguished from each other by such a criterion as skin: animals have fur, fish have scales, arthropods have an exoskeleton, and birds have feathers. You might think that birds need feathers to fly, but this is not true for two reasons: firstly, feathers first appeared in the ancestors of birds, dinosaurs, and secondly, feathers were needed mainly as a means of maintaining body heat, and only during evolution allowed the birds to fly into the air.
8. Birds and the Olympic Games
For millennia, pigeons delivered messages, including important military information, as well as the results of the first Olympic Games. The last time pigeons were used as postal couriers during World War II.
7. Coloring penguins is camouflage
Underwater, the black and white color of the penguins helps them remain hidden from both predators and prey. When the penguins swim their black backs merge with the dark water beneath them so that they are difficult to spot from above. Meanwhile, the white areas help them merge with the lighter surface of the water, so that they are almost invisible from below. But on land, the black backs of penguins can stand out sharply against the backdrop of a snowy landscape, but on land they have fewer enemies than underwater.
6. Who has the biggest beak
The Australian pelican has the longest beak, its length is almost 0.5 meters. But the tiny hummingbird has a beak of only 10 cm, but this is the only bird with a beak longer than the body.
5. Kiwi with nostrils, but without wings
The only bird with nostrils at the end of the beak is Kiwi. This arrangement of the nostrils helps her sniff out food on the ground - worms and insects. She often snorts to clear her nostrils. It is also the only bird in the world that does not have wings.
4. Chatterbox - a find for an ornithologist
The fifth number of our bird rating is the most talkative bird in the world - the African gray parrot. This is one of the most beautiful species of parrots in the world. One parrot of this species could say more than 800 words. And most species of parrots can only pronounce 50 words.
3. The closest relatives of birds are crocodiles
As creatures, vertebrates are associated with all other vertebrates that live, or have ever lived on the planet. But you may be surprised to learn that the family of vertebrates with which modern birds are most closely related is crocodiles. They, like dinosaurs, developed from a group of reptiles called “Archosaurs” at the end of the Triassic period. Dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles died out, but the crocodiles somehow managed to survive. Despite their kinship with birds, they are happy to eat any close relatives who risk landing near their muzzle.
2. Parrots yawn together
Budgerigars are the only known bird species that is susceptible to infectious yawning. Humans, dogs, chimpanzees, laboratory rats, and a number of other creatures can “catch” yawns from each other, but budgies are the first non-mammalian species to exhibit exhibiting behavior. Many scholars believe that an unconscious, instinctive response to yawning can be a primitive way to show empathy. Or perhaps this is a sign of group alertness.
1. Who has the longest
In the first place in the list of the most interesting facts about birds is the Argentine lake duck (aka Argentinean duck). Her penis, twisted in a spiral, reaches a length of 45 cm - longer than that of all other famous birds (and many do without a penis at all). The length of the duck is about 40-46 centimeters. The base of the penis is covered with rough spikes, and the tip is soft as a brush. Perhaps this is necessary in order to remove the sperm of the previous "groom" from the female genital tract. When the genital organ of the drake is not used, it is drawn into his stomach.
