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Recently Extinct Birds
About 216 species of birds have become Extinction, extinct since 1500, with increasing extinction rates due to human-caused influences such as Habitat destruction, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, and climate change. Currently there are approximately 10,000 living species of birds, with over 1,480 at risk of extinction and 223 critically endangered. Island species in general, and flightless island species in particular, are most at risk. The situation is exemplified by Hawaii, where 30% of all known recently extinct bird Taxon, taxa originally lived, and Guam, which lost over 60% of its native bird taxa in the decades following the introduction of the brown tree snake (''Boiga irregularis''). The disproportionate number of extinctions in Rallidae, rails reflects the tendency of that family to lose the ability to fly when geographically isolated. Even more rails became extinct before they could be described by scientists. The extinction dates given below are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleognathes
Palaeognathae (; ) is an infraclass of birds, called paleognaths or palaeognaths, within the class Aves of the clade Archosauria. It is one of the two extant infraclasses of birds, the other being Neognathae, both of which form Neornithes. Palaeognathae contains five extant orders consisting of four flightless lineages (plus two that are extinct), termed ratites, and one flying lineage, the Neotropic tinamous. There are 47 species of tinamous, five of kiwis (''Apteryx''), three of cassowaries (''Casuarius''), one of emus (''Dromaius'') (another became extinct in historic times), two of rheas (''Rhea'') and two of ostriches ('' Struthio'').Clements, J. C. ''et al''. (2010) Recent research has indicated that paleognaths are monophyletic but the traditional taxonomic split between flightless and flighted forms is incorrect; tinamous are within the ratite radiation, meaning flightlessness arose independently multiple times via parallel evolution. There are three extinct groups t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tadorninae
The Tadornini is a biological tribe that includes the shelducks and sheldgeese, which is placed in subfamily Anatinae of family Anatinae, which includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. It has been treated as subfamily in the past. This group is largely tropical or Southern Hemisphere in distribution, with only two species, the common shelduck and the ruddy shelduck breeding in northern temperate regions, though the crested shelduck (presumed extinct) was also a northern species. Most of these species have a distinctive plumage, but there is no pattern as to whether the sexes are alike, even within a single genus. Systematics Following the review of Livezey (1986), several species formerly classified as aberrant dabbling ducks or as "perching ducks" were placed in the Tadornini. mtDNA sequence analyses cast doubt on the allocation of several genera; many supposed dabbling ducks and one peculiar goose may more correctly belong here, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatinae
The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a young but highly apomorphic lineage derived from the dabbling ducks. There has been much debate about the systematical status and which ducks belong to the Anatinae. Some taxonomic authorities only include the dabbling ducks and their close relatives, the extinct moa-nalos. Alternatively, the Anatinae are considered to include most " ducks", and the dabbling ducks form a tribe Anatini within these. The classification as presented here more appropriately reflects the remaining uncertainty about the interrelationships of the major lineages of Anatidae (waterfowl). Systematics The dabbling duck group, of worldwide distribution, was delimited in a 1986 study to include eight genera and some 50–60 living species. However, Salvadori's te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family (biology), family of water birds that includes ducks, goose, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for aquatic locomotion, swimming, floating on the water surface, and, in some cases, diving in at least shallow water. The family contains around 174 species in 43 genus, genera (the magpie goose is no longer considered to be part of the Anatidae and is now placed in its own family, Anseranatidae). They are generally herbivorous and are monogamy in animals, monogamous breeders. A number of species undertake bird migration, annual migrations. A few species have been domesticated for agriculture, and many others are hunted for food and recreation. Five species have become extinct since 1600, and many more are threatened with extinction. Description and ecology The ducks, geese, and swans are small- to large-sized birds with a broad and elo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology), tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. They are the largest Anseriformes, waterfowl and are often among the largest Bird flight, flighted birds in their range. There are six living and many extinct species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the coscoroba swan which is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, although separation sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of bird egg, eggs in each :wikt:clutch, clutch ranges from three to eight. Taxonomy and terminology The genus ''Cygnus'' was introduced in 1764 by the French naturalist François Alexandre Pier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goose
A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyptian goose, Orinoco goose) are commonly called geese, but are not considered "true geese" taxonomically. More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller. The term "goose" may refer to such bird of either sex, but when paired with "gander", "goose" refers specifically to a female one ("gander" referring to a male). Young birds before fledging are called goslings. The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump. Etymology The word "goose" is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European ''*ǵʰh₂éns''. In Germanic lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots. Etymology The word ''duck'' comes from Old English 'diver', a derivative of the verb 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German 'to dive'. This word replaced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anseriformes
Anseriformes is an order (biology), order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, goose, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have Penis#Birds, penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves, the clade consisting of all other modern birds except the galliformes and paleognaths. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins, the Galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecologic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okarito Kiwi
The Okarito kiwi (''Apteryx rowi''), also known as the rowi or Okarito brown kiwi, is a member of the kiwi family Apterygidae, described as new to science in 2003. The species is part of the brown kiwi complex, and is morphologically very similar to other members of that complex. It is found in a restricted area of the Ōkārito forest on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, and has a population of only about 600 birds. Taxonomy The Okarito kiwi is a monotypic species, i.e. there are no recognised subspecies. The genus name '' Apteryx'' stems from the Greek "without wings". Originally assumed to be the same species as the Southern brown kiwi ''A. australis'', DNA testing shows that the possible split off from this species was 8.2 million years ago, and the split from their closest relatives, the Northern Island brown kiwi '' A. mantelli'' was around 6.2 million years ago. This bird is a ratite and has similarities to the others (emu, ostrich, rhea, cassowar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Spotted Kiwi
The little spotted kiwi or little grey kiwi (''Apteryx owenii'') is a small flightless bird in the kiwi family, Apterygidae. It is the smallest of the five kiwi species, at about , about the size of a bantam. It is endemic to New Zealand, and in pre-European times occurred in both main islands, but is now restricted to a number of small offshore islands, and mainland reserves protected by pest-exclusion fences. The little spotted kiwi was on the brink of extinction when a conservation effort took place 100 years ago. Five individuals were translocated from the South Island of New Zealand to Kapiti Island. Today, the Kapiti Island population has grown, with around 1200 birds. Taxonomy The little spotted kiwi is a ratite and belongs to the Apterygiformes order, and the Apterygidae family. The genus name ''Apteryx'' means 'without wings' and the species is named ''owenii'' after Sir Richard Owen. Only the nominate subspecies ''A. o. owenii'' survives. The subspecies '' A. o. ireda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
