Flightless bird Totally Explained

Everything about Flightless Bird totally explained

Flightless birds are birds which have lost the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim, and are thought to have evolved from their flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, kiwi, and penguins. It is believed by some that most flightless birds evolved in the absence of predators, on islands, and lost the power of flight because they'd few enemies — although this is likely not the case for the ratites; the ostrich, emu and cassowary, as all have claws on their feet to use as a weapon against predators.
   Two key differences between flying and flightless birds are the smaller wing bones of flightless birds and the absent (or greatly reduced) keel on their breastbone. The keel anchors muscles needed for wing movement.
   Some flightless varieties of island birds are closely related to flying varieties, implying flight is a significant biological cost.
   The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island Rail (length 12.5 cm, weight 34.7 g). The largest (both heaviest and tallest) flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird, is the Ostrich (2.7 m, 156 kg) (although some extinct species grew to larger sizes).
   Flightless birds are the easiest to take care of in captivity because they don't have to be caged. Ostriches were once farmed for their decorative feathers. Today they're raised for meat and for their skins, which are used to make leather.
   There were also other families of flightless birds, such as the now extinct Phorusrhacidae, that evolved to be very powerful terrestrial predators.

List of recent flightless birds

The following are flightless birds during or after the Holocene period.

Ratites

Podicipediformes (Grebes)

Junin Flightless Grebe

Titicaca Flightless Grebe

Atitlán Grebe (extinct, reportedly flightless [Hunter1988])

Pelicaniformes (Pelicans, Cormorants, et al)

Flightless Cormorant

Sphenisciformes (Penguins)

Penguins

Coraciiformes (Kingfishers, Hornbills, et al)

Giant Hoopoe (extinct)

Anseriformes (Waterfowl)

Moa-nalos (extinct)

Magellanic Flightless Steamer Duck

Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck

White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck

Auckland Island Teal

Campbell Island Teal

Ciconiiformes (Herons, Ibis)

Réunion Sacred Ibis (extinct)

Gruiformes (Cranes, Rails)

Red Rail (extinct)

Rodrigues Rail (extinct)

Woodford's Rail (probably flightless)

Bar-winged Rail (extinct, probably flightless)

Weka

Roviana Rail ("flightless, or nearly so" [Taylor1998])

Tahiti Rail (extinct)

Dieffenbach's Rail (extinct)

Chatham Rail (extinct)

Wake Island Rail (extinct)

Snoring Rail

Inaccessible Island Rail

Laysan Rail (extinct)

Hawaiian Rail (extinct)

Kosrae Island Crake (extinct)

Henderson Island Crake

Invisible Rail

New Guinea Flightless Rail

Lord Howe Swamphen (extinct, probably flightless)

North Island Takahe (extinct)

Takahe

Samoan Wood Rail

Makira Wood Rail

Tristan Moorhen (extinct)

Gough Island Moorhen

Adzebills (extinct)

Kagu

Tasmanian Native-hen

Charadriiformes (Gulls, Terns, Auks)

Great Auk (extinct)

Psitticiformes (Parrots)

Kakapo

Broad-billed Parrot (extinct)

Columbiformes (Pigeons, Doves)

Dodo (extinct)

Rodrigues Solitaire (extinct)

Viti Levu Giant Pigeon (extinct)

Caprimulgiformes (Nightjars)

New Zealand Owlet-nightjar (extinct)

Passeriformes (Perching Birds)

Stephens Island Wren (extinct)Further Information

Get more info on 'Flightless Bird'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://flightless_bird.totallyexplained.com">Flightless bird Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.