Birds have long been cultural resources, featuring in mythology, literature, and art throughout the world. As far back as prehistoric humans can be dated, a cave in France revealed cave paintings of people depicting birds. Humans also recorded their knowledge and fascination with birds in their general culture and conversation, with some bird figures being etched into ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Today, birds continue to be important cultural assets and inspirations, but their future is in question.
Birds have complex social structures, including monogamy and polygamy. Some species of birds mate for life and are known to mob prey. Others are known to mate only once, and others mate infrequently. Birds also share many traits, including the ability to fly and use sound to communicate with other members of their species. In addition, many birds participate in cooperative breeding, hunting, and flocking. They also mob predators in their territory.
The scientific name of a bird is a combination of its genus and species, the smallest units of classification. Some birds belong to the same species, but may have different geographical ranges. The scientific names for birds are derived from the Latin language and begin with a capital letter for the genus and lower case for the species. For example, Struthio camelus is the scientific name for an ostrich. When writing scientific names by hand, it’s best to underline the genus and species name.
The ability of birds to fly has led to a remarkable diversification of bird species. Birds now exist on virtually every continent and can be found anywhere from a few stragglers on the ice caps to large communities in tropical forests. The number of species in a given region directly correlates with its size and diversity of habitats. Furthermore, the relative position of the area to its wintering grounds of species that nest outside its range influences the total number of birds.
The digestive system of a bird includes the pharynx and esophagus. It also contains a gizzard, a gland in the stomach that secretes digestive fluids and an air sac that connects the bird’s lungs to the outside world. Some birds have a crop at the end of their throat, but this is not an unusual characteristic. However, unlike their mammals, birds have to keep their body temperature relatively high to ensure proper digestion.
While there is still no way to know for sure when birds evolved from dinosaurs, a new fossil found in China revealed that feathers and wings had existed long before the evolution of birds. Archaeopteryx’s skull is similar to that of a bird embryo, and fossilized dinosaur skulls look very much like those of birds. Abzhanov suggested that feathers may have paved the way for birds to develop flight and agile beaks.
Male birds do not have external sex organs, but they have a male phallus in their cloaca that contains sperm. In the course of copulation, the female will tilt her tail to the side as the male mounts her from behind. During the process, the male moves his vent towards her cloaca and kisses her in less than a second. If the female is ready, the male can enter her cloaca and fertilize the eggs within a few seconds.
