False Ideas Regarding the Extict Dodo Bird

The final factor, behavioral isolation, occurs when two species don’t recognize one another as mating partners due to incorrect courtship rituals. Since we tried to repopulate the St. Kitts by introducing the population from Nevis onto the island and no

The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner explores evolution through the most famous examples in history—the finches of the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the process of evolution are applied directly to what scientists refer to as Darwin’s Finches. Weiner follows scientists Peter and Rosemary Grant as they study the finches in real time on the Galápagos. Years of previous work, study and data is collected and analyzed. Different species of animals are observed and explained throughout history. The Grants have one goal, and that is to find the origin of the species, how organisms first began. They find that it really is about the “survival of the

The Hawaiian Duck is blessed with one of the best habitats in the world. It resides in the beautiful islands and the epitome of all beautiful islands known as Hawaii. They are mostly found in lowland wetlands, river valleys, and mountain streams. This works to this bird’s advantages. They mostly try to stay away from the more urban parts of Hawaii and stick to their usual wetland setting. However, there not much of these habitats around on the virtually miniature island of Hawaii, which makes this bird’s effort of trying to stick around, just that much harder. Its endangerment has a large part to do with the fact that you cannot find all of these elements in many places on the island of Hawaii. The Hawaiian duck’s habitat is a huge part of what this bird is and how it functions through its

One of its most important characteristics is its beak. The finch adapted to have a thin, long beak to probe through moss, bark and leaves in search of food (Wildscreen Arkive, N.D.). These finches have the thinnest beak out of the 13 finches; which aids them to find small insects. The Green Warbler finch are mostly found in humid highland forest where their primary food source is found. These adaptations made them more fit to survive on available food. Over the years the finch’s beak has evolved as the bird developed different taste for insects. Another famous adaptation is how they camouflage in their environment. The Green Warbler is restricted to the forest and is greener in body colouration, while the Gray Warbler is found in shrubby, dry thickets and is greyer and duller looking (Certhidea olivacea, 2010). Their coloration helps them camouflage in their own environments, and to hide from predators. Recent studies have found that there are in fact two separate species of the Warbler Finch, the Green Warbler Finch and the Grey Warbler Finch, but are considered as a single species (Wildscreen Arkive, N.D.). The Green Warbler finch mainly occupies larger, inner islands, while the Grey Warbler finch inhabits the smaller, outer islands (Green Warbler Finch,

In 1977 a drought reduced the number of small seeds available for the birds, forcing them to rely on larger seeds and nuts, which were difficult for birds with smaller beaks to open. The number of birds unable to eat reduced as they died and gave way to harder beaked finches. Within a couple of generations they had evolved larger beaks. In 2003 another drought struck the Galapagos and as there were many large beaked finches, the food source of nuts dwindled, making the ability to eat smaller seeds an asset. The numbers of larger beaked birds dwindled as food became scarce, leaving the smaller birds to survive and reproduce. Darwin’s theory was not well received when first written in On the Origin of Species, though many scientists today use it as a basis for research in evolution.

Living life every day risking life and limb is something that some raptors have chosen due to their innate ability to out-match its prey with extreme speed and ultimate agility. These raptors mainly belong to the family of buteo or hawks; such as the sharp-shinned hawk, Swainson’s hawk, and Cooper’s Hawk. They are small, long-tailed hawks with short, rounded wings. “They have small heads that in flight do not always project beyond the “wrists” of the wings” (allaboutbirds.org). Most of these species migrate south out of Canada and remain in North America for most of the year,

Edna is isolated and trapped like those birds in the cage, by her husband, and she does not have any freedom to leave as she pleases. “You are burnt beyond recognition,” he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage” (Chopin p.24). Edna could not escape from her husband anywhere, even when they were at the ocean; “ I thought I should have perished out there alone”… “ You were not so very far, my dear; I was watching you,” he told her (50). Birds are the major symbol in this novel; they are mentioned through out the novel. In the beginning of the novel birds were saying;”Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! Thant’s all right!” (Chopin p.22); this means go away, go away, for God’s sake, in Spanish. It is clearly seen that the birds represent Edna’s unspoken words and feelings toward her husband. The author mentions a bird at the end of the novel as well; “A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water” (Chopin p. 138). This bird was free from the cage but had broken wing. This bird represents that no matter how Edna tried to fulfill her desires; she did accomplish them; however, Edna did not have strong wings to fly high enough in her life to maintain her freedom, her desires, and her independence in the society she lived.

On the Galápagos Islands off the coast near Ecuador we studied the behaviors of the animals, plants and environment on Daphne Major we found that the lack of rainfall during the wet season of 1977 caused most of the plants to produce less seeds and thus most of the medium ground finches died of starvation as their main food source had become scarce. Although the lack of seeds some finches were able to survive with their longer and bigger beaks. They were able to survive because their beaks were able to break open the harder and more plentiful Tribulus seeds that survived the dry season of 1977.

Did you know the ringneck pheasant doesn't like to fly even though it is a bird? Weird,right? They have such short wings that set them apart from other birds. I can tell you more about the ringneck pheasant, like their characteristics and habitat. Their origin and diet are also things I am familiar with.

It usually flaps its wings to create thunderand lightning(John M.). The Thunderbird is a giant bird with colossal wings and sharp claws thatseem both protecting and dangerous(Tracey). People may think the thunderbird is small sincebirds are usually small but they are pretty big in size for instance they can pick up a whale andwhen eat it also their strength is so amazing that they can split open a tree at ease. A few cultureshave thought that the Thunderbirds were protecting eggs that had the types of birds that we seetoday also it has been thought that eagles and falcons accompanied the Thunderbird. One talesaid that the Thunderbirds was able to transform into a boy and speak backwards. TheAlgonquian Indians have thought that the Thunderbirds were the ancestors of the humans racewith the creation of the universe(John M.). It all started when 2 Indians from the Passamaquoddytribe were destined to find the origin of lightning. There was an obstacle that they had to get pastand the first indian was able to make it but the second Indian didn’t make it since he went toolate so it crushed him. The Indian that made it saw some more indians that were playing a gameof ball. One if them said it’s time to go so they were getting ready to fly away and flew off. TheElder came up to the Indians and told the Elder why he was on a quest to find the origin ofthunder. The elder decided to help the indian so other people with the elder put him into

Probosciger aterrimus, better known as the “palm cockatoo”, is the largest bird species of the parakeet (Psittaciformes) family (Taylor 2000). This highly threatened cockatoo species can be found dwelling in many tropical and woodland regions, including those of lowland New Guinea and the savanna habitat of Cape York Peninsula, Australia (Murphy et al. 2003), and can be identified by its long, plumaged body, curled erectile crest, and naked cheek patches. Of particular interest, and perhaps the most distinctive of this cockatoo’s traits, is the long, strong hooked beak. As with many bird species, the palm cockatoo’s bill has adapted to its specific dietary preferences and feeding strategies; in particular, the shock absorbing ability of the large, powerful bill allows the granivore-frugivore (grain or seed-eating – fruit-eating, respectively) (Koutsos et al. 2001) parakeet to scavenge for hard nuts that are otherwise inaccessible to other parakeet species. Further supporting the granivorous diet-accommodating beak morphology of the palm cockatoo is a study conducted by Munshi-South and Wilkinson (2006) that conclusively correlated the evolution of longer lifespans in parrots with the adoption of seed-based diets. If parrot species do in fact achieve longer lifespans by adopting granivorous diets, natural selection’s favoring of traits maximizing the adoption of a granivorous diet in the palm cockatoo should be relatively equally distributed amongst all members of the

Then there came a wave of disease – avian pox killed off many and then mosquitoes came (from ships, cargo, etc.) and brought in avian malaria, which seems to not affect introduced birds like the myna, which serve as carriers of it. As the mosquitoes expand in population and move up the elevations, destruction of all the native birds has happened. Moloka’i and Lana’i are basically native bird free now, and this problem has not taken decades, it has basically been only in the last few years. Population drops of 25 percent a year in some species has happened. The mosquitoes have reached 5,000 feet in Kaua’i, and they have only a few feet left on the tallest peaks to be free of the killers. Unable or unwilling to use genetically modified mosquitoes to drop the numbers of bugs, the end on that island is basically assured.

Severely restricted inside the barren cages, the birds are unable to engage in nearly any of their natural habits, including nesting, perching, walking, dust bathing, foraging, or even spreading their wings” (HSUS, 2009).

Related to birds there is another symbol, the flight, which acts as a stand for awakening. This symbolic theme appears constantly throughout the novel. We can see that Edna escapes her life, her children and her husband following her own believes of freedom. In this fragment we can see that Mademoiselle Reisz guides Edna through her awakening, but she cannot help her forever: "she put her arms around me and felt my shoulder blades, to see if my wings were strong. ‘The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth’” (page 217). In other words, she says that she has to be brave in order to defy society.

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter (3.3 feet) tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb), living on fruit, and nesting on the ground.