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The following is a glossary of common English language terms used in the description of
The following is a glossary of common English language terms used in the description of 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 fou ...
s—warm-blooded vertebrates of the class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
Aves and the only living dinosaurs. Birds, who have and the ability to (except for the approximately 60 extant species of flightless birds
Flightless birds are birds that cannot Bird flight, fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowary, cassowaries, Rhea (bird), rheas, an ...
), are toothless, have , lay
Lay or LAY may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
* Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
* Lay, Iran, a village
* Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
* Lay Dam, Alaba ...
hard-shelled eggs, and have a high metabolic
Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the ...
rate, a four-chambered heart
The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...
, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...
.
Among other details such as size, proportions and shape, terms defining bird features developed and are used to describe features unique to the class—especially evolutionary adaptations that developed to aid flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
. There are, for example, numerous terms describing the complex structural makeup of feathers (e.g., , and ); types of feathers (e.g., , and feathers); and their growth and loss (e.g., , and ).
There are thousands of terms that are unique to the study of birds. This glossary makes no attempt to cover them all, concentrating on terms that might be found across descriptions of multiple bird species by bird enthusiasts and ornithologists
__NOTOC__
This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists.
A
* John Abbot – US
* Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US
* William Louis Abbott – US
* Humayun Abdulali — India
* Joseph ...
. Though words that are not unique to birds are also covered, such as or they are defined in relation to other unique features of external bird anatomy
Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds' bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight. Birds have a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems capa ...
, sometimes called As a rule, this glossary does not contain individual entries on any of the approximately 11,000 recognized living individual bird species of the world. (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.1). https://www.worldbirdnames.org
A
B
C
D
:
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Z
See also
*Glossary of dinosaur anatomy
This glossary explains technical terms commonly employed in the description of dinosaur body fossils. Besides dinosaur-specific terms, it covers terms with wider usage, when these are of central importance in the study of dinosaurs or when their ...
Explanatory footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Birds, state=collapsed Birds *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 fou ...
Wikipedia glossaries using description lists