BirdsBy Michelle Anderson and Carly Poesch

Phylum Chordata

Subphylum Vertebrata

Class Aves

Habitat

• In time, birds have adapted to live in diverse regions including: Forests, mountains, deserts, oceans, marshes, and many more

Food Source

• Early in earth’s history, birds ate animal food, but seed eating came later

• They now eat almost everything including: Nectar, roots, grass, and seeds

Importance to Humans and Environment

• Birds that eat other animals or, predator birds, have an important role in the food chain.

• They keep rodents under control, helping farmers.

• Birds help stop the spread of some diseases.

• Birds spread pollen and seed to help reproduction of plants.

Unique Characteristics

• For a 170 lb. man to exert as much energy as a bird, he would have to eat 285 lbs of hamburger or double his weight in potatoes.

• Some birds have hollow bones to make them lighter, so they can fly.

• Some birds can maintain a body temp of 40 degrees Celsius even on cold winter days

Skeletal/Support System

Click here

Respiration

Click Here

Respiration• Birds need a steady stream of oxygen to fly, and to be able to release large amounts of CO2

• The respiration cycle of a bird is much more effective than a mammals, transferring more air with each breath

• Basically, birds breath in and out at the same time

Reproductive System• 95% of birds are socially

monogamous, they pair with one mate for at least the length of the breeding season.

• Cloaca is the reproductive organ in birds.

• Eggs are fertilized and given nutrients inside the female before the hard shell forms.

Sensory/Nervous system

• Birds are very intelligent, they must fly at high speeds, catch prey from long distances, and migrate thousands of miles.

• This demands lots of gathering and processing information

• Bird senses are more advanced than humans.

• Birds have great vision, but taste and smell are not as well developed.

Sensory System-Migration• Birds have a sixth

sense-to migrate• It is a magnetic

sense; like an internal compass

•Some few birds, do not have this sense and have learned to use the stars for migration

Circulatory System

• Birds have a closed circulatory system.

• A Closed Circulatory system is a blood circulation system in which blood moves through the body in closed vessels.

Excretory System

• Bird’s waste systems are much like reptiles

• Waste is removed from blood from the kidney

• Then converted to uric acid and put in the cloaca

• There water is absorbed and bird droppings are formed

Digestive System

• Click Here

ExamplesFlamingo

Toucan

Humming Bird

King Penguin

Bird Flight

Feathers

• Feathers are an adaptation that has enabled them to become successful.

• Birds have been around since the time of the dinosaurs

• http://www.natureswonderland.biz/peacockinframe.jpg

Beak Adaptations

• The beaks are adapted to the kind of food the bird eats.

• The toucan has a large, strong beak to slice food

• The long beak of a pelican is ideal for getting fish

Bird Feet

• Birds have hind limbs used for walking, swimming, running, or perching

• Front limbs have modified into wings

Endotherms

• Definition of Endotherms: The heat from within

• The bird’s body is insulated enough to conserve most of its metabolic energy.

• They can maintain a constant high body temp

Orders

• There are 27 orders of birds

• More than ½ are Passeriformes, which include house sparrows and perching birds

• Struthionifrmes- Ostriches

• Casuariiforms- Emus

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<http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/debnes_dfw_tx_1190919093_599.jpg>. • World's 2nd Biggest Bird: the Emu. 5 Apr. 2008

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