The closest relatives of dinosaurs. Modern birds are close relatives of dinosaurs. Death by Star

Ecology

Modern birds, as strange as it sounds, are “living dinosaurs,” having skulls remarkably similar to those of their distant dinosaur ancestors, according to new research.

At first glance, it is difficult to imagine that an ordinary sparrow could have anything in common with the Tyrannosaurus Rex. After all, the first is a small bird that weighs less than 30 grams, the second is a giant creature, the size of a school bus, whose weight is neither more nor less, but about 8 tons.

Despite all their external differences, these two species of living creatures are closer relatives than many people think, scientists from Harvard reported. Researchers have noticed that the evolution of birds is the result of a sharp change in the development of dinosaurs.

Unlike dinosaurs, which took years to reach sexual maturity, birds did it much faster. Some species take as little as 12 weeks to become parents after they are born. This allowed them to save physical characteristics baby dinosaurs.

"What was interesting about this study is that it illustrates evolution as an evolving phenomenon,- speaks Arkhat Abzhanov, associate professor of organismal and evolutionary biology. – By changing the biology of some species, nature created the modern bird - a completely new creature, as well as 10 thousand of its various types. Birds are the most successful group of land vertebrates on the planet today."

The evolution of many bird characteristics, such as feathers, flight, and sternum arches, has traditionally been a challenging problem for biologists, the researchers said. Having previously analyzed the fossilized remains of bird-like dinosaurs and primitive birds, their skeletons, eggs and soft tissues, scientists realized that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs theropods, a group of carnivorous animals that includes velociraptors. A new study strengthens these assumptions. Scientists were presented with an example of how changes in development played important role in the origin and evolution of birds.

If you look at the skulls of modern birds and dinosaurs, at first glance it seems that they are completely different. Dinosaurs had rather elongated muzzles with rows of sharp teeth, while, like birds, they had proportionally larger eyes and brains. Despite this, the skulls of birds and dinosaurs have much more common features than it seems.

Until now, no one from the scientific world has addressed special attention on the evolution of bird heads. "There have been a few small-scale studies looking at specific areas of anatomy, but none have looked at the whole question," the researchers said. "Interestingly, many have looked at the origins of certain features that make birds' heads special."

To understand the question of the origin of birds, scientists used an unusual method. Using a CT scanner, they scanned dozens of skulls of modern birds and theropods (the dinosaurs closest to birds), as well as early dinosaur species.

By noting certain features, such as eye sockets, intracranial cavities and other skull bones, in each specimen, scientists were able to trace how the skulls gradually changed shape over millions of years.

"We looked at skulls that were about 250 million years old, skulls of archaeosaurs, the group from which crocodiles and alligators evolved, and skulls of modern birds. Our goal was to study these skulls and trace how they changed to understand what is really actually happened during evolution", - said Abzanov.

Scientists were surprised by the fact that early dinosaurs Even those that are closely related to modern birds went through major morphological changes with age, with both the skulls of juvenile and adult birds remaining very similar.

“In the case of birds, we can notice that the adults look almost the same as the chicks of their distant relatives.”, - said Abzanov.

In modern birds, the change is the result of a process known as progenesis, which causes animals to reach maturity earlier. Unlike their dinosaur ancestors, modern birds mature much faster, so they have retained the appearance of their ancestors' babies.

The way bird skulls have changed over the course of evolution highlights the diversity of evolutionary strategies used by birds over millions of years.

Find out if dinosaurs really existed and why they disappeared. Here you will find expert opinions on whether there are dinosaurs on Earth today, whether omnivorous dinosaurs exist in the 21st century.

Answer:

Are there dinosaurs today? Modern scientists were sure that these creatures became extinct at the end of the Jurassic period. However, the latest find says the opposite in this regard.

Not long ago, the remains of the last dinosaur that managed to survive that disaster were found. He was immediately dubbed Leinkupal laticuada, which means “disappearing family.” This type of dinosaur managed to stay alive after its relatives became extinct. His remains were discovered by scientists in a place where nothing like it had ever been found before.

The dinosaur belongs to a species of sauropods, which are considered representatives of giant herbivores. These are some of the largest living creatures to ever inhabit the Earth.

After mass extinction dinosaurs, this species was able to evolve in the Cretaceous period and continue its existence.

Scientists managed to discover these remains in South America and Argentina (Patagonia), despite the fact that the previous existence of dinosaurs of this type of sauropod was assumed in areas of North and Central America. This allows us to consider the discovery very interesting, since the information will help to clarify movements after climate change and the extinction of the main part of the dinosaurs.

Did dinosaurs exist and why did they disappear?

Today, when science has stepped far forward and the picture of events can be reconstructed from the found remains, doubts about whether dinosaurs existed are no longer relevant. News regularly appears about the discovery of a tooth or bone of an animal. And yet, why did they really disappear?

Huge living creatures that inhabited the Earth many millions of years ago became extinct for inexplicable reasons. However, different scientists are putting forward more and more new versions on this matter. Among them are the fact that there were too many males and eating their own eggs. Also more probable hypotheses.

One of the most reliable versions is the change climatic conditions in that era. This led to the fact that many plants began to disappear, thereby depriving the dinosaurs of their main source of food. At the same time, it is still unknown in which direction the climate has changed: whether it was a strong cooling or, on the contrary, warming.

Everyone loved dinosaurs as a child, and almost everyone simply adored Jurassic Park. But not many people know that almost everything that tells us about dinosaurs Mass culture- not true. In this collection we have collected the most popular misconceptions about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were the largest creatures that ever existed on earth

First: not all dinosaurs were big. Of course, some of them reached quite serious sizes. But these were isolated species. In addition to them, there were many less impressive dinosaurs, the size of a sheep, a dog or a chicken, for example. The smallest of known to science dinosaurs weighed about 200 grams. Secondly: you will be surprised, but the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth is our contemporary - the blue whale. So if you were upset that you'd never be able to see a live Megaladon, there's a good chance you'll see a much larger giant alive.

All dinosaurs lived in the tropics

This myth is due to the fact that the climate used to be much warmer than it is now. And based on this, some seriously believe that almost all the land was then covered with thick rainforests. In reality this is, of course, not the case. During the existence of dinosaurs, as well as now, the Earth already had deserts, plains, ordinary forests, and jungles, of course. Moreover, over the millions of years that dinosaurs walked on our planet, the landscape, like the climate, invariably changed. And dinosaurs successfully mastered the entire range of ecosystems.

Dinosaurs were dumb creatures with tiny brains.

Judging the intelligence of creatures that lived 100 million years ago, of which only fossilized remains have survived, is an extremely thankless task. The only thing we can know more or less accurately is the size of their brains. And, naturally, it was different for all dinosaurs, as in absolute value, and relative to body size. The same Stegosaurus, often ridiculed for its tiny brain, actually had a brain the size of Walnut and weighing about 70 grams. On the other hand, our favorite four-legged friends, dogs, have brains that are about the same size. But dogs weigh a maximum of 100 kilograms, which is 20 times less than the weight of the stegosaurus. But the brain of a tyrannosaurus, for example, was three times larger than the brain of a dolphin. But relative to body size, it roughly corresponds to the brain of modern reptiles.

The Jurassic period is the "golden age" of dinosaurs

Well, first of all: the greatest diversification of dinosaur species, according to statistical studies, was not in the Jurassic, but in the Late Cretaceous period. And secondly: even this obvious diversity is nothing more than an illusion, since it is precisely the rocks of the Late Cretaceous period that today to a greater extent studied than breeds of other periods Mesozoic era. So it is still impossible to say with complete certainty when there were more dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurus is the largest predator ever to walk the earth

Once again, a myth to which we are entirely indebted to popular culture. Tyrannosaurus turned out to be so often mentioned that it practically became the personification of the brand for all dinosaurs in general. It’s just that when most people hear the word “dinosaur,” they think of either a Tyrannosaurus rex or a Triceratops. So it is the tyrannosaurus that is often called the largest and most dangerous of all known to science terrestrial predators. We will return to its danger later, but for now let’s talk about its size. Today it is absolutely clear that the Tyrannosaurus rex was not the largest land predator in history. The largest skeleton found is 12.3 meters long. While the spinosaurus reached 16 meters in length. But these two giants have never met, since the tyrannosaurus is “younger” than its competitor by more than 30 million years. And, naturally, evolution has not stood still all these years, so in many respects the tyrannosaurus looks like a much more advanced “killing machine” than its more ancient brother.

Dinosaurs were a dead-end branch of evolution

The fact that they did not build cities and did not organize wars for resources does not mean that they were a dead-end branch of evolution. Dinosaurs were perfectly integrated into their environment. They were the dominant species on the planet and essentially masters of not only the land, but also the air and the sea. Although objectively speaking, neither marine reptiles nor flying lizards can be called dinosaurs, they were still much more related than us and dolphins, for example. And yet. Humans have been evolving for only two million years and are already close to global crises and the threat of total destruction of themselves. While dinosaurs evolved absolutely beautifully over 135 million years, and if not for global cataclysms beyond their control, they might have continued to live to this day.

When dinosaurs lived, all mammals were the size of mice

No, even then they were much more major representatives order of mammals. Here, however, it is worth immediately making a reservation: it depends on what is considered large size. Of course, if we talk about the size of a mammoth, then, of course, there were no such mammals during the time of dinosaurs. In general, the average size of mammals then did not exceed the size of a modern cat. However, even then, namely about 125-122 million years ago, there were already mammals such as Repenomamus, for example. It was about 1 meter long, weighed 12-14 kg, and judging by the remains found, it even ate some small dinosaurs.

All dinosaurs lived only in the equatorial region of the earth, and the finds of their remains in temperate latitudes are explained by the movement of continents

And again no. Yes, over the millions of years of dinosaurs’ existence, not only the climate, but also the landscape of the earth changed. But many modern finds prove that dinosaurs lived even in Antarctica. To be fair, it is worth noting that in those days Australia and New Zealand were connected to Antarctica, forming one polar continent. The climate in those days, naturally, was much warmer than today, but the dinosaurs who lived there still had to adapt to the harsh weather conditions. In summer, the sun shone on this continent around the clock, and for five months of the year the polar night reigned. It is quite possible that predators and herbivorous dinosaurs were in these areas in the summer, and in winter they migrated to warmer regions to the north.

Dinosaurs became extinct as a result of a meteorite impact

Contrary to the assurances of many people that this is exactly what happened, this is only one version of what happened. Scientific debate about what caused the death of dinosaurs, whether their extinction was sudden or gradual, continues to this day; there is no single point of view. It is known for certain that the extinction of dinosaurs was only part of the so-called “great extinction” that took place at the same time. They went extinct along with the dinosaurs marine reptiles, flying lizards, many mollusks and a huge amount of small algae. In total, 16% of marine animal families and 18% of land vertebrate families died. According to one of the widespread theories, the death of dinosaurs could have occurred due to a planet relatively close to ours. solar system supernova explosion. Such an event could unleash a deadly shower of gamma rays on the Earth, and the X-rays emitted by the explosion could sweep away some earth's atmosphere, forming a hot layer at an altitude of 20-80 km above the surface of the planet.

Velociraptors could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h

In general, the real image of the Velociraptor, which scientists managed to reconstruct, is extremely far from what was shown to us in the “Park” franchise Jurassic period" This is largely due to the fact that when working on the film, the basis was the reconstruction of another dinosaur - Deinonychus, which was previously classified as a genus of Velociraptor. But even the Deinonychus in the film are doubled in size compared to their size. actual dimensions. As for real velociraptors, evolutionarily they were closer to birds, had plumage, were warm-blooded animals, reached a height of 60-70 cm and weighed about 20 kg. IN this moment There is no scientific basis to think that velociraptors could run very fast, hunted in packs (all their found remains are individual individuals), and even more so, possessed some kind of super-developed intelligence. All this is nothing more than fiction.

Municipal Autonomous educational institution"Secondary School No. 7"

Krasnokamensk, Transbaikal region

Project“Do relatives of dinosaurs exist today?”

WithinI Scientific and practical conference for preschoolers and junior schoolchildren"I am a researcher"

in 2018

Direction:(according to the regulations)

View: medium term

Participant: Antsiferov Alexander 7 years old, 1 “A”, class

Supervisor: Chukmasova Svetlana Aleksandrovna (primary school teacher, appropriate for the position)

Krasnokamensk, 2018

Stage I – Statement of the problem

Pedagogical problem

Children's ideas about relatives dinosaurs.

Children's problem: learn about dinosaur relatives

Adult goal:

formation of children's ideas about relatives of dinosaurs.

Children's goal:

find out whether relatives of dinosaurs exist today.

Tasks:

introduce you to the ancient inhabitants of the Earth - dinosaurs;

give an idea of living conditions dinosaurs;

establish the connection between living organisms in the modern world

develop the ability to independently obtain and record new knowledge in an accessible form;

develop coherent speech, memory, thinking, imagination, attention while working on project.

Hypothesis:

We assume that in our time there are animals that are relatives of dinosaurs. For example, giraffes, rhinoceroses, turtles, chameleons, crocodiles.

Research methods:

Think for yourself;

Ask parents and teachers;

Observe the structure of dinosaurs and animals modern world

To conduct an experiment;

View educational literature;

View on the Internet.

The relevance of my research is that the knowledge gained can help us save those species of animals that are threatened with extinction today. Perhaps dinosaurs will be able to tell us how to save modern Earth!

Visual aids

Photo materials

Stage II – creating a piggy bank

In one TV show, I heard that turtles are descendants of dinosaurs and decided to find out if this is really so, and whether other relatives of ancient lizards live in our time. After all, many existing animals are similar to dinosaurs.

We conducted our research on next plan:

Historical information about dinosaurs.

Lookalikes (comparing dinosaurs with some modern animals).

Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles.

Comparison of dinosaurs with birds.

Conclusions.
Dinosaurs (from the Greek “terrible lizards”) are animals belonging to the class of reptiles.

Dinosaurs appeared on our planet approximately 230 million years ago and died out 65 million years ago. Scientists call the time when dinosaurs lived the Mesozoic era. Dinosaur remains found in sediments rocks only this time.

The last of the dinosaurs went extinct when terrible disaster shook the Earth.

There is reason to believe that dinosaur remains were first discovered more than 2,500 years ago in the Gobi Desert in Central Asia. Visiting traders brought Ancient Greece news of amazing and terrifying creatures. Perhaps these stories are based on the discovery of fossilized dinosaur skeletons Protoceratops. And about 1700 years ago Chinese sages It was recorded that huge fossilized bones were found in the ground, which, according to the ancient sages, belonged to dragons and possessed magical power. It is likely that these were dinosaur bones. But the real discovery of ancient dinosaurs occurred only in the 19th century.

Since then, hundreds of different species of dinosaurs have been discovered. They have been found on all continents, and scientists still find 10 - 15 new species of ancient lizards every year.

Dinosaurs had many various means defense and attack. Predators used sharp claws and teeth, while their victims were often helped to survive by their shells, fast legs, or simply big sizes bodies. One of the important means of protection of modern animals is camouflage. We don't know what coloration dinosaurs had, but it's most likely that the skin tone and pattern on it helped the animals blend in. surrounding nature.

Dinosaurs laid eggs, just like modern turtles, crocodiles and birds. The cubs of some dinosaurs hatched from eggs and were already quite independent; they could fend for themselves and immediately left the nest. In other species of lizards, the offspring were fed and protected by the mother until the babies were old enough to take care of themselves.

About 65 million years ago, all dinosaurs suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. Trying to explain this, scientists have put forward many theories. Today, experts agree that the extinction of dinosaurs was caused by two catastrophes that shook the Earth.

In the last millions of years of the Mesozoic era, there were global changes:

The earth split into continents

Volcanic eruption,

The fall of a huge meteorite.

All this led to a cold snap, cutting off access to the land solar warmth. Not a single animal weighing more than 50 kilograms survived.

The plants died. Herbivorous dinosaurs They soon died of hunger, which is why the predators were left without food. By the time the atmosphere cleared, there were no longer dinosaurs on our planet; only a few feathered species of lizards survived.

Comparison of dinosaurs with animals.

Some animals may look like dinosaurs, but that's not enough. The skeletons and behavioral features should be similar.

First I compared external image and the characteristics of the behavior of a giraffe, armadillo and rhinoceros with dinosaurs.

GIRAFFE: thanks to his long neck can eat leaves from the tops of trees, like diplock.

The ARMADOX is covered with a bony shell, like an ankylosaur.

RHINO looks something like Triceratox. He also has a large, heavy body and a horn on his nose.

So these animals are relatives of dinosaurs? No. The giraffe, the armadillo, and the rhinoceros are mammals, while dinosaurs are reptiles. Therefore, we must look among reptiles.

Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles.

Compared the turtle, crocodile with dinosaurs. Modern reptiles- relatives of dinosaurs - are divided into several groups: crocodiles, caimans, lizards, turtles and snakes.

TURTLES: Turtles as they are seen today appeared 200 million years ago, when humans did not yet exist and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The archaeological remains of a 100 million year old turtle are no different from a modern one. Among scientists, there are several opinions regarding the ancestors of turtles, but most agree that the ancestors of turtles were parareptiles. They outlived the dinosaurs and survive into our time.

CROCODILES: About 250 million years ago, a group of reptiles appeared - archosaurs. From them came:

pterosaurs - aerial reptiles

dinosaurs - land reptiles

crocodiles are inhabitants of rivers and swamps.

Protosuchus, whose name means “first crocodile,” lived about 200 million years ago. Looking at this animal, you might think that protosuchus is not so similar to a crocodile. It reached a length of 1 m and lived on land. He had a broad skull, a gracefully built body and long legs. He was related to a crocodile sharp teeth and an “armored” back. Orthosuchus lived at about the same time as Protosuchus. This short-snouted reptile was more reminiscent of modern crocodiles. The legs of Orthosuchus were shorter and the fingers longer than those of Protosuchus. During the Cretaceous period, crocodiles were large and very dangerous. Deinonychus (“terrible crocodile”) - a real giant - reached 14 m, that is, it was four times longer than the average modern crocodile. He hid underwater and caught dinosaurs and other animals that came to drink.

This means that crocodiles are the closest relatives of dinosaurs that have survived to our time. If you observe crocodiles - how they catch and eat prey, how they care for their offspring, you get a rough idea of the lifestyle of dinosaurs. For 200 million years they have hardly changed. Therefore, by studying the lifestyle of modern crocodiles, we can understand how prehistoric crocodiles lived.

Dinosaurs and other reptiles became extinct by the end of the Mesozoic era (65 million years ago). However, two large groups reptiles survived. They still exist today.

These include:

Crocodiles, including true crocodiles, alligators, caimans,

Sea, land and aquatic turtles.

Comparison of dinosaurs with birds.

Birds and dinosaurs have so much in common that some scientists call them bird-feathered dinosaurs.

While researching birds, I discovered something amazing. The bones of the legs of birds are very similar in structure to the bones of the legs of dinosaurs - predators. Although birds are not reptiles, there are still some very important features similarities:

Birds' legs are covered with scales

birds lay eggs in hard shells

Many scientists believe that birds are the closest relatives of dinosaurs.

Archeopteryx lived 150 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. This unusual crow-sized creature combined features of both dinosaurs and birds. It was similar to dinosaurs by its clawed front paws, toothy jaws and a long tail. But this “dinosaur” had feathers adapted for flight, the same as those of modern flying birds. Archeopteryx deftly climbed branches and glided from branch to branch.

Conclusion:

Thus, by conducting research project, our hypothesis about the existence of dinosaur relatives in our time was confirmed. That is, the pigeons that we feed in the parks may be the closest relatives of dinosaurs. Crocodiles and turtles are also relatives of dinosaurs. They evolved around the same time as dinosaurs.

Nowadays, many different reptiles live on Earth. True, many of them are threatened with extinction due to the fact that people mercilessly exterminate them for meat, bones and beautiful skins. Thus, the problem discussed in this work not only introduces us to the past, but also gives us the opportunity to think about the future.

Literature

World of dinosaurs. Moscow, “Swallowtail”, 2011, interactive encyclopedia.

Large illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs. John Malam. Steve Parker¸ Moscow, Swallowtail, 2013

Large encyclopedia of questions and answers. J. Johnson, E. Kay, K. Oliver, S. Parker and P. Riley, Moscow, Rosman, 20013.

Children's illustrated encyclopedia. Moscow, Rosman, 2013 Taylor B., Smith M., Bernie D., Kent P.

We think we own heaven. But a group of creatures capable of flight remains the envy of air force created by man. These birds are descendants of dinosaurs. They inhabit all ecosystems globe, including the interior of Antarctica.

Origin of birds for a long time remained the subject of lively debate. Over the foreseeable period of time, several scientific versions of the origin and family ties birds and the emergence of flight in them, and for more than a hundred years they were purely hypothetical.

1. Heron fishing. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):

special structure

2. A flock of white geese. (Photo by Jim Scalzo):

Birds share many common features with dinosaurs in their skeletal structure. Among the possible closest relatives of birds, avimim is also considered - small predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period.

3. A pelican feeds its babies. (Photo by Monika Skkolimowska):

The first attempt to systematize animals was made in the 4th century BC. e. Greek scientist Aristotle - in his works “On the Parts of Animals” and “On the Origin of Animals” he identified all the birds known to him into the “highest genus” Ornithes. Despite the obvious imperfection of this system, up to the second half XVII centuries, no new attempts were made to classify the animal world. Only to end of the 19th century century, new research has laid the foundation for modern ideas about the bird class system.

4. Heron. (Photo by Biju Boro):

Birds are everywhere, even in Antarctica. For example, the snow petrel nests in the interior of this continent at a distance of up to 440 km from the coast. Along the edges of the Antarctic shield, penguins (emperor, Adelie) nest in places, giant petrel, south polar skua.

5. Sandhill cranes. (Photo by Sam Greenwood):

Birds also inhabit the most waterless deserts and mountains, right up to the border of eternal snow. During migration, flocks of geese and cranes were sometimes observed flying at an altitude of 7000-9000 m. In 1973, an African vulture collided with a civilian aircraft over Côte d'Ivoire at an altitude of 11,277 meters.

6. Gray heron fishing. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):

Several families of birds have adapted to life at sea. Some species of penguins dive to depths of up to 300 m, and according to other information, emperor penguin can reach a depth of 535 meters.

7. Tricolored heron. Chick. (Photo by Rhona Wise):

It is the ability to fly that determines the characteristics of this class of animals, although there are a relatively small number (about 60 species) that are flightless or almost flightless birds, in the course of evolution, one way or another, they lost the ability to fly that their ancestors had.

8. Pelicans. (Photo by Amir Cohen):

Flight requires a very large expenditure of muscle energy, so the level of metabolism in birds is extremely high and the need for food is great: its daily norm is 12-28% total mass bodies. If we project these data onto a person, then a 70-kilogram character would have to eat up to 20 kg of food per day if he were a bird.

9. The duckling is hiding from the rain. (Photo by David L. Ryan):

All bird species are characterized by the presence of feathers that are not found in other modern animals. Feathers cover the entire body of the bird, with the exception of the beak and the distal parts of the hind limbs. It is believed that feathers originated as a result of evolutionary transformations of reptile scales.

10. Gray Heron. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):

How many feathers does a bird have? Total number feathers large species more than small ones. For example, hummingbirds have about 1,000 feathers, seagulls have up to 6,000, and swans have 25,000.

11. Robins are waiting for their parents in the nest. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst):

The pen is an almost perfect mechanism. It provides the possibility of flight, forming load-bearing planes (wings, tail), and creates a streamlined body. Feathers protect the skin from mechanical damage. The waterproof and heat-protective functions of the plumage are very effective.

12. Stilt walkers. (Photo by Sam Yeh):

Like any sophisticated mechanism, feathers require careful maintenance, and birds spend about 9% of their time daily cleaning their plumage, bathing and dust bathing.

13. Stork. (Photo by Rhona Wise):

Descendants of dinosaurs do not smell. They do not have sweat glands. Cooling of the body is achieved using highly developed respiratory system. Birds also cool down by being in the shade or in water.

14. Herons. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):

No teeth. It is interesting that modern birds lack teeth - they are partly replaced by the sharp edges of the beak, with which birds capture, hold and sometimes crush food. Due to the loss of teeth, the task of grinding food is transferred to the stomach.

15. Canada geese. Struggle. (Photo by David L. Ryan):

The respiratory system of birds is also characterized by signs of adaptation to flight. This organ system in birds is considered one of the most complex among all groups of animals. The more intense the flapping flight, the more intense the breathing process.

16. Godwits. (Photo by Chris Purnell):

The heart rate of birds is also high, and in flight, compared to rest, the heart rate increases noticeably. So, a sparrow’s resting pulse is about 460 beats/min, and in flight it’s about 1000 beats/min!

17. Heron's nest. (Photo by Anupam Nath):

Birds are not stupid animals. A well-developed brain allows birds to produce complex shapes behavior and adapt to the most different situations. The most striking demonstration of the mental abilities of birds is considered to be the training of songbirds to sing, the repetition of human speech by parrots, the methods of obtaining food in a number of species, and the ability of corvids to solve complex problems offered to them in special experiments.

18. 3 little swans. (Photo by Matt Campbell):

Eyes are the most powerful avian apparatus. Many birds have good distance vision (the peregrine falcon is able to see a small bird at a distance of more than 1 km). In some species the field of view reaches almost 360°. Vision in birds is noticeably more acute than in other groups of vertebrates - this is explained by the significantly larger number of light-sensitive cells in the retina.

19. Dove. (Photo by Dominique Faget):

Sound signals have an exclusive role in the life of birds. important. They ensure the protection of feeding and nesting territories from the invasion of strangers, attracting females for breeding, and warning relatives and chicks about impending danger. There are dozens of bird languages sound signals(disasters, warnings, food, courtship, mating, aggressive, flocking, nesting, and so on).

Some birds, for example, lyrebirds, have a phenomenal ability to imitate all kinds of sounds, ranging from the voices of birds, animals, humans, and ending with various man-made sounds, including playing the flute and even the sounds of car alarms and chainsaws.

20. Goose family. (Photo by Tom Dorsey):

Flight! The flight of birds is usually divided into two main types: active (flapping) and passive (soaring). Birds usually use more than one type of flight, but combine them. The flapping of the wings is followed by phases when the wing does not move: this is gliding flight, or soaring. This flight is typical mainly for birds of medium and large sizes, with sufficient body weight. Hovering in place relative to the surrounding air is challenging task for birds. In fact, hummingbirds are the only group of birds adapted to do this.

Birds move along branches, ground and water using their hind legs. And also, any bird does not drown in water and swims when necessary.

21. Gray heron catches fish. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):

The migration routes of some birds consist of many segments, between which the birds rest and look for food. The reasons for bird migration are seasonal changes. environment. Absolute champion Based on the range of migrations, they consider the Arctic tern, which migrates seasonally from the Arctic to the Antarctic, covering a distance of up to 70-90 thousand km per year! Also, one of the longest migrations in the world, lasting up to 26 thousand km, is performed by the round-nosed phalarope.

Observation of the flight of birds prompted people to invent the first aircraft, and its further study continues to influence the development of modern aviation.

22. White stork nest on a cell tower. (Photo by Paul Hanna):