The Life of Birds: To Fly or Not to Fly

Archaeopteryx had three toes and was armed with claws and strong legs. Clearly, it
walked and perched like a bird.

Archaeopteryx’s head was very reptilian with bony jaws and in those jaws, teeth.

Feathers are made of keratin as are the scales that many birds still have on their legs
and reptiles have all over their body.

Archaeopteryx’s wings carried three fingers, each with a hooked claw.

The Hoatzin has hooks on its front limbs.

There used to be a gigantic vulture with a wingspan of over 20 feet. It was probably the
biggest flying bird that ever existed.

The largest bird to live on the ground was named the Terror Bird.

The ostrich is the biggest and heaviest bird alive today.

The ostrich relies, for its defense, on speed. If pursued it can sprint at over 40 miles per
hour.

An ostrich’s filaments have lost their hooks so they can no longer be zipped together
into an unbroken blade. Instead they are loose and fluffy.

Pebbles are swallowed and go into a muscular compartment of the stomach, the
gizzard.

Birds that live on the Galapagos Islands, isolated in the Pacific, have no natural
enemies from which to escape.

Since New Caledonia had no ground predators, until recently, the Kagu gave up flying
and today it is virtually flightless.

How does a kiwi find its prey?

Probing into the earth with its bill to smell for food

Where is a kiwi’s nostrils located?

At the tip of its beak

What happened to cause the extinction of the Moa?

Over hunting

How many Takahe are there?

~40 pair