Birds
Birds are endotherms - warm blooded, have feathers, lay eggs and have a backbone. Birds have mastered the sky because they have hollow bones which means they are very light. Not all birds fly, the ostrich is too big and heavy to fly. There is a type of bird that swims... penguins. Most people don't really think of penguins as birds but they have tiny little feathers that trap air helping them to swim.
Some birds migrate - where they travel from one area, country or continent to another. they do this to follow the seasons around the globe. The bird that migrates the furthest is the Artic Tern which flies all the way around the globe.
There is evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs because some dinosaurs are thought to have feathers, the most famous of these was the Archaeopteryx.
Birds have beaks in all shapes and sizes with raptors - birds of prey, from owls, falcons, eagles and hawks - using theirs for eating insects, tearing meat and even stabbing and filtering water.
Another thing most birds do is build a nest with some nests - like the sociable weaver bird - being as big as the tree they are made in with many chambers.
- Biggest - The ostrich grows up to 9 foot.
- Smallest - The bee humming bird is only 2.5 cm long.
- Most dangerous - The most dangerous bird is the cassowary which has a giant claw that it uses to disembowel predators.
- Fastest - When diving, the peregrine falcon can fly at speeds which exceeds 200 miles per hour.
To find out more about the various species of birds that may be covered during our lectures, click on the images.