People never get tired of watching birds. After all, they can do something that is not given to a person - fly! Moreover, birds have beauty, amazing voices that give joy, and a host of other qualities that cause our admiration.
Today the object of our attention will be the big birds that inhabit the Earth.
African ostrich is a real giant
The first thing we remember is the African ostrich - a bird worthy of admiration and respect. After all, not only is she the tallest and heaviest feathered creature in the world, the ostrich also runs faster than a horse!
These big birds can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h over short distances, and they are helped in this by strong long legs with only two flattened fingers. By the way, anatomically, the legs of this bird are similar to the structure of the limbs of a camel. And thanks to them, the ostrich turns out to be taking four-meter steps while running! That's a bird!
Cassowary - a bird with a "horned" head
A very imposing bird, although somewhat inferior to ostriches, is the helmetedcassowary found in Australia and New Guinea. Its height reaches 1.5 m, and it weighs almost 80 kg. Just like ostriches, these birds do not fly, but they can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h.
Indonesians once called the cassowary a horned head, because its skull is also decorated with a bone plate that grows throughout the bird's life. Its size reaches 17 centimeters. Such plates are especially large in males. By the way, there are still heated debates about her appointment among biologists.
But not only these large birds are decorated with a kind of crown - red or bright orange skin outgrowths in the form of earrings descend to their chest. Their body is covered with black loose and soft plumage, more like animal fur than bird feathers.
Prairie condor
But large birds not only walk on the ground, they can also fly high. One of them is the California condor. In the old days, the American Indians bowed before him, believing that the sun rests on his huge wings.
The body length of the condor is 1.35 m, and it weighs about 12 kg and, despite these impressive dimensions, it flies beautifully. After all, its wingspan reaches 3.25 m, which allows the bird to soar at a height of 4500 m, using air currents.
The condor has a very remarkable appearance - it is a large black bird with a white fluffy "collar" on its neck and a reddish, completely bald head, decorated with a fleshy crest.
Condor is a predator, a scavenger, who sees a dead victim from afar and is able toeat several kilograms of meat. Often, after a large meal, he cannot even rise into the air.
Marabou bird of prey
On the African continent, in India and Indonesia, there is another large bird - the marabou. Its weight reaches 9 kg, and its wingspan is 3 m. Outwardly, it resembles a stork, although it has, like a vulture, a featherless head armed with a large (up to 30 cm) beak.
An adult marabou has a large skin growth on its neck, which, by the way, makes scientists still puzzle over what the bird needs it for.
Marabu is a predator that lives in the savanna near water bodies. He enters into a fight for food not only with vultures, but also with jackals, and most often turns out to be the winner. But the marabou feeds not only on carrion, but also on small animals: even newborn crocodiles become its prey.
By the way, recently marabou have also become regulars in landfills, which bring noticeable benefits to humans by cleaning them.
The largest sea bird is the albatross
The wandering albatross is the largest bird of its 21 species. Its wingspan is 3.5 m and it weighs about 13 kg. This is a great glider. An albatross is believed to be able to cover distances of up to 6,000 km in just 12 days.
Among researchers, there is also a case when an albatross ringed on one of the islands in the Indian Ocean fell into the hands of scientists for the second time already in South America. So he covered a distance of 10,000 km!
Theselarge white birds with black wings spend a huge amount of time in flight over the water surface. For them, it’s normal for months, or even years, not to see land. But at the same time, they have a unique topographic memory, always returning to the same place for reproduction. Moreover, each bird flies to the place of its birth, where it produces offspring.
Pelican
A bird with a large beak (reaching a length of 50 cm) - the Australian pelican - is also considered the largest flying bird on this continent. And thanks to the record ratio of body size and beak, the Australian pelican is included in the Guinness Book of Records.
Surely many have seen the beak, amazing in the form of pelicans. The feathered angler uses it as a net. He plunges his open beak into the water and as soon as something comes across there, he closes it and presses it to his chest. This helps to force out the water and position the fish for easier swallowing. And pelicans, living in s alt water, also use their huge beak to collect rainwater.
Toucan – another feathered bird famous for its beak
By the way, remembering the big beaks, we can't ignore the toucan. In addition, it is not only a bird with a large beak, but also a very beautiful feathered one.
Iridescent toucans are especially good - black, with lemon-yellow cheeks and chest. And the size of its colorful, colored from green to orange beak is about 50% of the size of the bird itself!
By the way, why the toucan needs it, scientists puzzled for a long time. And not so long ago, researchers from the Canadian Brock University and the Brazilian São Paulo came to the conclusion that with the help of its huge beak, the toucan regulates body temperature. When the heat sets in, the beak quickly heats up, taking heat from the body and giving it into the air, and the network of blood vessels that permeate this part of the toucan's body helps it in this.
Bustard is the heaviest flying bird
Describing large birds, we paid attention to their height, wingspan and even beak size, but listing them, we cannot ignore the bustard.
Bustards are large birds with strong legs and long necks. But, in addition, it is also the heaviest bird among all flying birds. Bustard weight reaches 20 kg.
They live on vast treeless plains, hunting small vertebrates and insects. Do not disdain carrion. And bustards nest right on the bare ground. A male trying to charm a female is an amazing sight. He spreads his wings and tail, inflates his throat bag and, throwing his head back, becomes like a big badminton shuttlecock.
The crowned eagle is a fearsome bird
In the central and southern regions of Africa, there are large birds of prey that can attack even a person - crowned eagles. They are named so for the characteristically rising feathers on their heads during danger. The body length of this eagle is about 1 m, and the wingspan is 2 m.
The main dish inthe menu of these birds is made up of monkeys and even antelopes. Due to its size, as well as strong wings and strong, finger-thick claws, this bird is able to lift 16 kg of weight into the air! Which, by the way, exceeds the mass of her own body by 4 times.
The crowned eagle looks out for prey, sitting on the sidelines, and then attacks with lightning speed, not giving the victim time to escape. If this is not a very large animal, then it is eaten whole, with bones, and the larger prey is torn into pieces and then transferred to a place convenient for eating (usually a tree).
Like other eagles, this bird cannot stand the neighborhood of its relatives, zealously patrolling the hunting grounds. But the eagle chooses his girlfriend once and for all.
