Flightles birds

Unable to fly due to adaptive features

1. SCHOOL OF STUDIES IN ZOOLOGY,
JIWAJI UNIVERSITY, GWALIOR
TOPIC : FLIGHTLES BIRDS

2. SYNOPSIS
•INTRODUCTION
•ODERS OF FLIGHTLESS BIRDS
•EXAMPLES OF FLIGHTLESS BIRDS
-OSTRICH
-EMU
-KIWI
-CASSOWARY
-RHEA
•CONCLUSION
•REFRENCES

3. INTRODUCTION
•Flightless birds have more feathers than other birds
•Flightless birds have smaller bones in their wings
•These birds have to rely heavily on swimming or running
•Some have claws on their feet to protect them from predators
•The living wingless or flightless birds belong to superorder palaeognathae
•They have lost the ability to fly during evolution. Hence it is known as flightless
birds or Runingbids.
•The flightless birds having keelesssternum and curly feathers.
•They have well developed powerful legs and small head
•Grains, fruits and vegetables are feeding habits of flightless bird.
•Easier to take care in capativity condition.
Flightlessbirdsarebirdsthatthroughevolutionlosttheabilitytofly.Thereareover60extantspecies,including
thewellknownratitesandpenguins.ThesmallestflightlessbirdistheInaccessibleIslandrail.Thelargest
flightlessbird,whichisalsothelargestlivingbird,istheostrich.

4. ORDERSOFFLIGHTLESSBIRDS
•The living flightless birds belong to the following 4 orders of the
superorders palaeognathae :
•Order 1 : Struthioniformes –Ostriches of southwest asia and africa
•Order 2 : Rheiformes –Rheas of south america
•Order 3 : Casuriiformes –Cassowaries and Emus of australia.
•Order 4 : Apterygiformes –Kiwi of newzealand.

5. OSTRICH
•Today,ostrichesareonlyfoundnativelyinthewildinAfrica,wheretheyoccurina
rangeofopenaridandsemi-aridhabitatssuchassavannasandtheSahel,bothnorth
andsouthoftheequatorialforestzone.
•TheSomaliostrichoccursintheHornofAfrica,havingevolvedisolatedfromthe
commonostrichbythegeographicbarrieroftheEastAfricanRift.Insomeareas,the
commonostrich'sMasaisubspeciesoccursalongsidetheSomaliostrich,buttheyare
keptfrominterbreedingbybehavioralandecologicaldifferences.
•TheArabianostrichesinAsiaMinorandArabiawerehuntedtoextinctionbythemiddle
ofthe20thcentury,andinIsraelattemptstointroduceNorthAfricanostrichestofill
theirecologicalrolehavefailed.
•EscapedcommonostrichesinAustraliahaveestablishedferalpopulations.
•4 species are present in South Africa
•Largest flightless birds
•Weight around 100 kg
•Height 1.5 m
•Able to run 60 km/hrwithout weight
•The egg weight is around 1.5 kg and larger in size
•They layout 7-10 egg in once time

6. EMU
•It is believed that flightless birds evolve from
birds that can fly and they evolved because of
lack of predators. This is not the case for all
flightless birds though
•Second largest flightless bird
•2 species is present in Australia
•Height 1.5m
•Flesh of emu moderately good for eating
•These egg is used an artistic ornamentes
•They layout egg around 15 eggs in a once time.

7. KIWI
•It is the smallest living flightless bird about the
large domestic hen.
•They are characterized by reddish or greyish
brown hair like feathers
•It is the small flightless but larger than domestic
hen
•Kiwis are nocturnal and burrowing in habit
•National bird of Newzealand so they are
protected by government
•Their winggsare rudimentryand lacking ttail
feather possess a keen neseof smell,, unique in
bird
•It is the national bird of new zealandso gov.
New zealandset aside for their protection

8. CASSOWARY
•Third largest flightless bird
•live in wooden part of Australia
•Nocturnal and shy in nature so rarely
seen
•Adults are black in colouration
•Youngs are brown in colouration
•The skin of the head and neck is bright

9. RHEA
•South American ostrich
•Having short neck and elongated body
•Always live in group
•Habitat similar to ostrich
•Nest is dug by male
•Female can lay eggs in same nest
•Incubates eggs by male

10. CONCLUSION
Flightless birds have lost the ability to fly during evolution, So they can
not fly easily.
These are over 60 extant species including the well known ostrich and
emu. The largest
flightless bird is ostrich and the smallest flightless bird is island rail.

11. REFERENCES
Chordate by Jorden and P.S.Verma