Talking Exotic Pet Birds

Bird Migration ... Also, the longer days of the northern summer provide extended time for breeding birds to feed their young... This helps diurnal birds to produce larger clutches than related non-migratory species that remain in the tropics... As the days shorten in autumn, the birds return to warmer regions where the available food supply varies little with the season...

Bird Vision ... These give birds the ability to perceive not only the visible range but also the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and other adaptations allow for the detection of polarised light or magnetic fields... Birds have proportionally more light receptors in the retina than mammals, and more nerve connections between the photoreceptors and the brain... Birds of prey have a very high density of receptors and other adaptations that maximise visual acuity...

Beak ... Etymology Although the word 'beak' was, in the past, generally restricted to the sharpened bills of birds of prey, in modern ornithology, the terms 'beak' and 'bill' are generally considered to be synonymous... All other extant birds have a narrow forked vomer that does not connect with other bones and is then termed as neognathous... The muscles that depress the lower mandible are usually weak except in a few birds such as the starlings and the extinct Huia which have well developed digastric muscles that aid in foraging by prying or gaping actions...

Cat ... Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felids, with strong, flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. As crepuscular predators, cats use their acute hearing and ability to see in near darkness to locate prey...

Brood Parasite ... Interspecific brood-parasites include the Old World cuckoos in Eurasia and Australia, cowbirds and Black-headed Ducks in the Americas, and indigobirds, whydahs, and the honeyguides in Africa. Seven independent origins of obligate interspecific brood parasitism in birds have been proposed...

Feral Cat ... In many parts of the world, feral cats are descendants of domestic cats that were left behind by travelers. Because cats are not native to all parts of the world, feral cats can cause harm to local environments by preying on local species...

Gray Wolf ... Though once abundant over much of Eurasia, North Africa and North America, the gray wolf inhabits a reduced portion of its former range due to widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to population control or extermination as threats to livestock, people, and pets...

List Of Extinct Birds ... Currently there are approximately 10,000 species of birds, with an estimated 1,200 considered to be under threat of extinction. Island species in general, and flightless island species in particular are most at risk...

Fish (food) ... The modern English word for fish comes from the Old English fisc (plural: fiscas) which was pronounced as it is today. Health benefits See also: Health benefits of eating seafood Research over the past few decades has shown that the nutrients and minerals in fish, and particularly the omega 3 fatty acids found in pelagic fishes, are heart-friendly and can make improvements in brain development and reproduction...

Vision In Fishes ... Lenses are normally spherical but can be slightly elliptical in some species. Compared to terrestrial vertebrates, fish lenses are generally more dense and spherical...

Iron In Folklore ... Francis Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines cold iron as "A sword, or any other weapon for cutting or stabbing." This usage often appears as "cold steel" in modern parlance. "Cold iron" is sometimes asserted to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and/or other malevolent supernatural creatures...

Biomagnification ... Biological magnification often refers to the process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy metals move up the food chain, work their way into rivers or lakes, and are eaten by aquatic organisms such as fish, which in turn are eaten by large birds, animals or humans. The substances become concentrated in tissues or internal organs as they move up the chain...

Wolves In Ireland ... The Morrígan was said to take on the form of a red-furred wolf, particularly in her battle with the hero Cú Chulainn. Mac Cecht killed a wolf feeding on a still living woman on a battlefield...

Feathered Dinosaur ... In 1964, John Ostrom described Deinonychus antirrhopus, a theropod whose skeletal resemblance to birds seemed unmistakable...

Origin Of Birds ... A close relationship between birds and dinosaurs was first proposed in the nineteenth century after the discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx in Germany... Fossil evidence also demonstrates that birds and dinosaurs shared features such as hollow, pneumatized bones, gastroliths in the digestive system, nest-building and brooding behaviors... A second molecular study robustly supported the relationship of birds to dinosaurs, though it did not place birds within Theropoda, as expected...

Diversity Of Fish ... Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including jawless, cartilaginous and skeletal types...