Phylum Chordata: Class Aves
By: Grace and Bella
Description:
Processes
Feeding and Digestion: Members in Class Aves feed through their Beak or bill and stomach. Their beaks serve as their mouth. Most members do not have teeth, so the birds use a special saliva to help them break down their food. They ingest food through their esophagus.
Circulation: Members in class aves have a 4 chamber heart. They have a very quick heart rate. Along with their lungs they use to breath, birds have a system of air sacs. These air sacs increase their use of oxygen.
Excretion: Birds concentrate the urine collected by their kidneys. The result of this process allows birds to not loose much water. Birds also do not have a blatter to store urine and they do not store feces.
Movement: Members have forearms that have adapted into wings for flight. The different species of class aves have different wings, all designed to do the type of flying they do.
Nervous: Members depend on strong eyesight to fly. Their brains are composed into three parts with sections for olfaction, optics, and hearing. Their taste buds are similar to those of mammals.
Reproduction: Members in Class Aves reproduce by internal fertilization. The birds lay hard shelled eggs. These eggs are waterproof.
Characteristics
- feathers
- warm blooded
- wings (most use to fly some don't)
- hard shelled eggs
- bipedal (walks on 2 legs)
- female lays eggs
Fun Facts
- Many birds enjoy living in pairs.
- Their hollow bones help them fly.
- It is believed that birds adapted from theropod dinosaurs.
- There are over 10,000 different species identified as a part of Class Aves
- Around 20% of species migrate long distances every year.
- The chicken is the most common species, with billions of chickens living in the world
- First bird domesticated by humans was the goose
- Thier eyes take up about 50% of their head
- Some bird species are so intelligent they can create and use tools
- Class Aves contains 163 families
Dove
Flamingo
Penguins
Toucans
Fischer's Lovebird
Parrot
Special adaptions
- The furcula (wishbone), serves as a brace during the flight stroke
- Secondary feathers of the wing are supported by the forearm
- Wrist and hand bones are fused to provide firm support for the primary feathers
Works Cited
- "Aves." Animal Sciences. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
- Aves - Birds - Animalia. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
- "Interesting Facts about Birds." MSPCAAngell. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.
- ¨Pests: Class Aves." Pests of Stored Foodstuffs and Their Control (n.d.): 117-20. The Animal Kingdom. Web. 8 May 2017.