Birds

About 66 million years ago, something happened on Earth - a large comet or asteroid probably fell on the surface of the planet and wiped out three quarters of all living beings, mostly the large ones, like dinosaurs. But some animals survived, among them, one group of dinosaurs that spread out all over the world and carried on evolving. And they’re still around today! Members of the smallest species of this group are smaller than a coin, while members of the largest species are heavier and taller than humans. They are everywhere around us.

Do you have any idea which group of animals this is? It’s BIRDS! So, what are the common characteristics that make them all birds? Most importantly, the feathers. These are a unique feature of birds, and no other animals have them.

Feathers have many functions, but one of the most important is to insulate birds from the cold and help keep a constant body temperature. They also protect birds from the wind and from getting wet. And also birds would probably not be very good at flying, if not for the feathers. But feathers serve another function too; Look at this pair of peacocks - they are the same species, but one is brown and small, and the other one is colourful and has a magnificent tail; how can that be? Well, the brown peacock is female, and the colourful one is male.

The male peacocks use their colourful feathers to attract female peacocks, and to make themselves look better than other males! Besides feathers, all birds have four limbs - two legs and two front limbs that in most birds have evolved into wings. Penguins are an exception as their front limbs look and work more like flippers than wings. All birds have very strong, but very light skeletons and hollow bones. The structure of their skeleton is one of the main reasons why birds are so good at flying!

The other reason is their extremely strong chest muscles that are needed for moving the wings. Birds have beaks with no teeth that come in many different shapes and sizes, depending on the main sources of food. Beaks of hummingbirds, for example, are very long and thin so they can reach down into flowers and drink nectar, while beaks of eagles are wider and curve down, well adapted to tear up meat! Birds can regulate their own body temperature - we say they are warm-blooded, or endothermic. Finally, all birds lay eggs with hard shells, and most birds will care for the eggs and the chicks once they hatch - they are some of the best parents in the animal kingdom!

These are the common features of birds, but there are so many different species in the class of birds that many of them have unique characteristics! Some birds, for example, are great singers. Young birds learn the birdsong specific to their species from their parents, and then pass it on to their own offspring. Other birds, have lost the ability to fly, but they compensate by being really good swimmers, like penguins, or runners, like ostriches - the birds that are bigger than humans! Birds are an incredibly diverse group of animals.

See how many different species you can spot next time you’re out!