Let's Discover Some Curiosities About Birds

1. The oldest species dates back to about 150 million years ago

Its name is Archaeopteryx, and it was a cross between a feathered dinosaur and a modern bird. He lived during the Upper Jurassic period south of present-day Germany and resembled the European magpie, although it was larger in size. The fossil of this bird was discovered shortly after Darwin published "The Origin of Species".

2. Birds have no teeth (only one)

One of the curiosities about birds is that they have no teeth. For this, they have a beak that allows them to break up and grab the prey before eating them. The only exception is a small tooth, also present in hens, an incisor that they use to break the shell. A few days after birth, it falls on its own.

3. Large, small and resistant eggs

No doubt, people are struck by the way birds come into the world. And that's not all, because there are other interesting considerations to make about their eggs.

For example, that the smallest in the world belong to the hummingbird, while the larger ones to the ostrich, (which needs 2 hours of cooking so that they remain hard); that a real albatross chick takes 79 days to come out of the egg, and that nine is the maximum amount of yolks found in one.

4. Wings

All the birds have wings, except one: the kiwi. This small animal lives in Oceania and does not even have a tail. Ostriches and penguins have wings, but they are not able to fly.

And if we talk about the ability to fly, no doubt the hummingbird is in the first place: it is the only bird able to move its wings more than 4800 times per minute and to fly backwards. Instead, the larger specimens, like the swan or the goose, have about 25,000 feathers, and change them from time to time!

5. Organic curiosities

As for the physiognomy of the birds, in addition to having the lungs, they also have air sacs distributed throughout the body that are filled according to need.

A bird's body temperature is about 7 degrees higher than that of people. To lower this value, these animals use a good amount of air that enters the body, since they do not have the ability to sweat. Their heart can beat between 400 times (when resting) and 1000 times (when flying) per minute.

6. From food to hunting

Surely you have seen seagulls circling near the sea. Their diet is based on fish, but they can also eat more. For example, when whales approach the coast, they take advantage of it to rip off pieces of fat or meat. These huge marine mammals don't even realize it.