People do not get tired of admiring the birds. After all, they can, what is not given to man, fly! Also, birds possess beauty, amazing voices, giving joy, and a host of other qualities that cause our admiration.
Today, the objects of our attention will be the large birds that inhabit the Earth.
African ostrich is a real giant
The first one we recall 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, so the ostrich also runs faster than a horse!
These large birds at short distances can reach speeds of up to 70 km / h, and strong long legs with only two flattened fingers help them with this. By the way, the anatomical legs of this bird are similar to the structure of the limbs of a camel. And thanks to them, the ostrich, it turns out, takes four-meter steps while running! This is a bird!
Cassowary - a bird with a "horned" head
A very impressive bird, although somewhat inferior to ostriches, is the helmet-bearing cassowary, which lives in Australia and New Guinea. Its height reaches 1.5 m, and it weighs almost 80 kg. Like ostriches, these birds do not fly, but can reach speeds of up to 50 km / h.
The Indonesians at one time called the cassowary a horned head, because its skull is also decorated with a bone plate that has been growing throughout the life of the bird. Its size reaches 17 centimeters. Especially large are such plates in males. By the way, there is still heated debate about its appointment among biologists.
But not only these big birds are decorated with a peculiar crown - red or bright orange skin outgrowths in the form of earrings descend to their chest. Their body is covered with black friable and soft plumage, more like animal hair than feathers of a bird.
Condor - a resident of the prairies
But large birds not only walk on the ground, they still know how to fly high. One of them is a California condor. The American Indians bowed before him in antiquity, believing that the sun rested 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, flies beautifully. After all, the wingspan reaches 3.25 m, which allows the bird to soar at an altitude of 4,500 m using air currents.
The condor has a very remarkable appearance - it is a black big bird with a white fluffy “collar” on its neck and a reddish, absolutely bald head decorated with a fleshy crest.
Condor is a predator, scavenger, from afar seeing the dead victim and able to eat several kilograms of meat at a time. Often after a hearty meal, he cannot even take to the air.
Marabou bird of prey
On the African continent, in India and Indonesia, another large bird lives - marabu. Its weight reaches 9 kg, and its wingspan is 3 m. Outwardly, it resembles a stork, although it has, like a vulture, a head without feathers, armed with a large (up to 30 cm) beak.
Marabou has a large skin growth on the neck of adults, which, by the way, makes scientists still puzzle over what the bird needs it for.
Marabu is a predator that lives in the savannah near ponds. He enters into the struggle for food not only with vultures, but also with jackals, and most often he turns out to be the winner. But the marabou eats not only carrion, but also small animals: even newborn crocodiles become its prey.
By the way, marabou have recently also become regulars in landfills, which bring significant benefits to people by cleansing them.
The largest seabird - albatross
A wandering albatross is the largest bird of 21 species of its brethren. Its wingspan is 3.5 m, and it weighs about 13 kg. This is a great glider. It is believed that albatross is able to overcome distances of up to 6,000 km in just 12 days.
Among the researchers, there is also a known case when an albatross, ringed on one of the islands in the Indian Ocean, fell into the hands of scientists already in South America. So he covered a distance of 10,000 km!
These big white birds with black wings spend in flight over the water surface a huge amount of time. 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 for reproduction to the same place. Moreover, each bird flies to the place of its birth, where it produces offspring.
Pelican
Large beak bird (reaching a length of 50 cm) - the Australian pelican - is also considered the largest flying bird on this continent. And thanks to a record ratio of body and beak sizes, the Australian pelican is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Surely many saw a beak that was amazing in form of pelicans. The feathered fisherman uses it as a net. He immerses the opened beak in water and as soon as something comes in there, closes it and presses it to his chest. This helps displace the water and arrange the fish so that it is easier to swallow. And pelicans living in salt bodies of water use their huge beak to collect rainwater.
Toucan - another feathered, famous for its beak
By the way, remembering the large beaks, you can not get around and weed toucan. In addition, it is not only a bird with a large beak, but also a very beautiful bird.
Rainbow toucans are especially good - black, with lemon-yellow cheeks and chest. And the size of its colorful, painted in colors from green to orange beak is about 50% of the size of the bird itself!
By the way, why does a toucan need him? Scientists have been racking their brains for a long time. And not so long ago, researchers from the Canadian University of Broca and the Brazilian São Paulo came to the conclusion that with the help of his huge beak, the toucan regulates body temperature. When the heat comes, the beak quickly heats up, taking heat from the body and giving it to the air, and the network of blood vessels that pierces this part of the toucan helps it in this.
Bustard - the heaviest flying bird
Describing the big birds, we paid attention to their growth, wingspan and even the size of the beak, but listing them, you can not ignore the bustard.
Bustards are large birds with strong legs and a long neck. 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 bare ground. A male trying to captivate 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 shuttlecock, which is played in badminton.
Crowned Eagle - a fearsome bird
In the central and southern regions of Africa there are large predatory birds that can even attack humans - crowned eagles. They are named for the feathers that characteristically rise during times of danger on the head. The body length of this eagle is about 1 m, and its wingspan is 2 m.
The main dish in the menu of these birds are 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, incidentally, exceeds the mass of her own body by 4 times.
The crowned eagle looks 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 larger prey is torn to pieces and then transferred to a place convenient for a meal (usually this tree).
Like other eagles, this bird does not tolerate the neighborhood of its relatives, zealously patrolling the hunting grounds. But then the eagle chooses a girlfriend once and for all.