Birds

Overview

To date, almost 9,000 living bird species have been identified and divided into twenty-eight orders depending on their different characteristics.

Birds are warm-blooded, air-breathing vertebrates. They have fore-limbs modified into wings, thin skin, feathers, and scales on their feet and legs. Characteristics unique to birds include feathers and a beak. Feathers assist in locomotion and temperature regulation and wings are designed for flight and to assist in swimming, balance and defence. The beak is designed to obtain and grasp food, so its shape is related to diet. They have a similar bone number and formation to mammals.

Approximately 3% or 260-285 species are adapted to life at sea. Marine birds include the flightless penguin and sea birds, such as the albatross, petrel and gannet, which nest near to the sea and feed from our oceans.