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BIODIVERSITY: SCIENCE PROJECT

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

The emu is Australia's largest bird. It is the second largest bird in the world by height - the ostrich is bigger.

Why don't emus fly?

The emu is part of a group of birds called ratites. Ratites are birds that do not fly. The other ratites are the ostrich in Africa, the Australian cassowary, the rhea in South America and the small kiwi in New Zealand. Ratites do have wings but the bones across their chest do not have a part for flight muscles to attach to. The sternum, or breastbone, of flying birds is shaped like a keel while ratites have a raft-shaped breastbone.

Emus can run at speeds of up to 50 km per hour.

Where is the emu found?

The emu is quite common and is found over much of mainland Australia, though fewer live in desert areas. They were once found in Tasmania before the arrival of Europeans, but were wiped out soon after.

Appearance

Emus are about 2 metres tall. They have small wings that help the bird cool itself in hot weather - they hold the wings out so that the air can circulate around their body.

Emu females are generally larger than the males. The females weigh about 40 kilograms, the males about 36 kg.

Emu feathers are long and brown, and grow in pairs with two shafts joined at the base. Emus are the only birds that have double feathers. The barbs coming out of the shafts are separate, not joined together as they are in the feathers of birds that fly. This means that the bird looks more like it is covered in hair than in feathers.

Emu necks are often without feathers, and the skin is bluish.

Their beaks are wide and soft, for grazing grass and browsing in bushes. Emus have long legs, with three large toes, each with a claw. When emus sit, their feet go out in front of them. People think their knees bend forward, but actually the knee is higher up, under the feathers so we can't see them. The part we see that bends forward is actually the bird's ankle.

Emus make grunting noises and also a deep drumming sound.

Emu Diet
Emus are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and meat. They eat fruits, flowers, insects, seeds and green plants. As they peck at the grass, they pick up snails, slugs and other grubs as well.

Birds have a part of their body called a gizzard. The food they swallow goes into the gizzard to be ground up so that it can be digested. Emus swallow quite large stones to help grind up the food in their gizzard.

Life Cycle

Emus generally find partners in summer, December-January, and breed in the winter months, May-August. If conditions are bad, such as a severe drought, emus may not breed at all, or the female may only lay a few eggs. In excellent conditions she may lay a larger than usual clutch of eggs. The large green eggs are laid gradually over several days, usually 5-9 days. The female then leaves and the male sits on the eggs for 8 weeks until they hatch. He hardly leaves the nest, and does not eat much during this time.

The chicks are cream coloured with ark stripes running from head to tail.

The chicks stay with the male for about 18 months. He misses the next breeding season.

The female does not stay with the eggs or chicks. Because the climate may be harsh, it takes a while for her to regain her energy so that she is ready to breed in the next season with a different male.

FOOD CHAIN

Ostriches (Struthio camelus)

Description

The flightless ostrich is the world's largest bird. They roam African savannah and desert lands and get most of their water from the plants they eat.

Though they cannot fly, ostriches are fleet, strong runners. They can sprint up to 43 miles (70 kilometres) an hour and run over distance at 31 miles (50 kilometres) an hour. They may use their wings as "rudders" to help them change direction while running. An ostrich's powerful, long legs can cover 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in a single stride. These legs can also be formidable weapons. Ostrich kicks can kill a human or a potential predator like a lion. Each two-toed foot has a long, sharp claw.

Ostriches live in small herds that typically contain less than a dozen birds. Alpha males maintain these herds, and mate with the group's dominant hen. The male sometimes mates with others in the group, and wandering males may also mate with lesser hens. All of the group's hens place their eggs in the dominant hen's nest—though her own are given the prominent centre place. The dominant hen and male take turns incubating the giant eggs, each one of which weighs as much as two dozen chicken eggs.

Contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand. The old saw probably originates with one of the bird's defensive behaviours. At the approach of trouble, ostriches will lie low and press their long necks to the ground in an attempt to become less visible. Their plumage blends well with sandy soil and, from a distance, gives the appearance that they have buried their heads in the sand.

Ostriches typically eat plants, roots, and seeds but will also eat insects, lizards, or other creatures available in their sometimes harsh habitat.

Ostriches are omnivorous birds that consume a mix of meat and plants that they forage, although they usually prefer the latter. Some common elements of the ostrich diet are fallen fruit, seeds, shrubs, shoots, gourds, dry and hard foliage, frogs, roots, plants, tortoises, tiny lizards and bugs such as locusts. Ostriches sometimes feed on rotting carcasses killed by other animals -- no need to do the dirty work themselves. In terms of fruit, ostriches eat a lot of wild figs and berries

Interesting facts

- Ostriches have 3 stomachs

- It is the only bird that secretes urine separately from faeces.

- They swallow pebbles to grind their food, due to the lack of teeth.

- They have the largest eyes amongst land mammals, enabling them to spot predators (about 5 cm in diameter)

Importance of Ostriches in the ecosystem

- they provide direct value to humans In the ecosystem such as
-Leathers

-feathers
-Eggs
-Food
Threats
- Destruction of their natural habitats
- Hunted mostly for their feathers; fashion trend
- Hunted for food (meat and eggs etc.)

Conservation
-Prevent the destruction of its natural habitat
-Introduce ostrich offspring's to develop in other parts of the world.

FOOD CHAIN

Parrots (psittacular calthropae)

Description

Parrots have a heavy, in relation with  their size, and compact body with a large head and short neck. Their beaks are short, strong and curved. The two parts of the beak are very strong and used to break fruits and seeds. The tongue is large and strong.

They have strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet that are very useful to climb up trees. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured.

Parrots are counted amongst the most intelligent birds and are very popular as pets.

Interesting Facts

While eating, parrots hold their food in one of their feet, which can be either left or right, making parrots left as well as right handed.

Parrots, mainly pets ones, are very good at mimicking. They can easily imitate the speech and calls of other birds and animals, even humans. African gray parrots are the best mimics.

Parrots are zygodactyls i.e. they have four toes on each foot. Two of their toes point forward and two toes point backward.

Most of the parrots build their nest in holes of trees, termite mounts, rocks or ground tunnels. Only a few build sticks nests.

These birds are found in warm climates, almost all over the world.

Wild Macaws and Cockatoos can fly up to 500 miles in a day, while searching for food.

The vocalizations of some parrots can be heard for up to 1 mile.

Larger parrots can live more than 75 years, while smaller ones live up to 15 years only.

Parrots cannot eat chocolates because it is poisonous to their body.

Parrots have a thick muscular tongue that helps them to eat fruits, seeds, buds, nectar and pollen.

Parrots are omnivorous!

They are also monogamous, which means they have only one partner for life.

Hyacinth Macaw

Parrots are the only birds which pass food to their mouth with their toes.

Parrots not only use their toes but their bills (beaks) for climbing.

These birds are found in warm climates, almost all over the world.

The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot. The smallest parrot is the Pacific Parrotlet.

Pacific Parrotlet

Parrots need motivation to stay healthy and cheerful. It is bad for them if they are let in the cage alone with nothing to do.

These birds need company.

In comparisons to other pets, like cats and dogs, parrots need more love and care. They are not born to live in cages, but they learned to live in it. Therefore, they need more affection. Most parrots build their home in tree holes. They rarely build nest for themselves. Most of them live in tree holes, rock cavities, ground tunnels and even sometimes in termite dunes. Parrots have do not have vocal chords. They have amazing control of their trachea and they produce sound by pushing air out of it. They change the pitch by altering the shape and depth of their trachea.

Parrots are so colourful, but interestingly their eggs are always white!

Importance

Why are parrots messy?

The mess is only a problem because we have removed parrots from the context where the mess makes sense and is helpful. In our homes, the natural mess parrots make to drive their native ecosystems seems unnatural. Yet it could not be further from the truth. When we remove parrots from their natural environment, we delude ourselves if we think they will be cease to behave as they are still in the wild. You can take the parrot out of the rainforest, but you cannot take the rainforest or the outback of the parrot. Our displeasure that they drop their food is not important to them. They have evolved to be messy so that they can fulfil a vital role in their ecosystem - to feed all the animals that cannot reach and/ or cannot cut through the shells of the fruits in their environment and to aids plant in procreation.

Parrots are drivers of many ecosystems. Their mess is vital for many animals to survive. Parrots spread seeds that cannot germinate until they have been through a bird's digestive system and deposited in their faeces.

The extinction of local parrots population from forests surrounding settlement may cause seasonal food shortage. Parrots provide pollination services to plants, prevent certain trees from dominance by eating their seeds and are important prey for predators.

Threats

Climate changes are one of the natural and most common threats to wildlife. European agriculture has provided parrots with food and water (in dams and bores) in areas where they did not previously live. This has lead to the population expansion of some species. However these changes may have resulted in a drop in the numbers of other species. For example, the clearing of native forests for farmland in some areas has reduced the number of living and breeding sites for the parrots which previously lived in those habitats.

Illegal trapping and smuggling operations of live birds may have contributed to the decrease in Australian parrot populations, but the removal of eggs from their nest poses a bigger threat. This is because nest-robbers will often destroy the bird's nesting hollow, making it unavailable for the next breeding season. It is easier to obtain and transport eggs than adult birds, and more eggs than adults can be smuggled from the country and distributed overseas.

Conservation
How can you help?

Support legitimate wild parrots conservation organisations.Leave breeding to wildlife conservationist experts who repopulate the species into the wild.Do not breed.Do not buy. Instead, adopt and rescue a homeless parrot if you want to make a parrot part of your family.Write letters to pet stores letting them know you don't approve of selling live animals and that you will boycott their store until they stop.

Turkey (meleagris gallopauo)

Description
Wild turkeys are large and plump birds with rounded tails, long legs and slim necks. They are native to North America and are part of an order called Galliformes. Some other birds from the diverse Galliformes are chickens, roosters, quails and pheasants. Wild Turkeys live in mature forests and travel in flocks searching for nuts, berries, insects, snails and occasionally, reptiles.

Interesting Facts
Wild turkeys roost in trees, meaning they sleep in flocks. They do so to avoid predators such as foxes and racoons. Only male turkeys make the popular gobble sound. The females, called hens, however make chirping and clucking sounds. Although wild turkeys weigh around 5 to 7 kilograms, they can actually fly up to 89 kilometers per hour. They prefer searching for their food from the ground however, and do not usually fly. 

Importance of Turkeys
Wild Turkeys provide food for their predators. Some examples are coyotes, mountain lions and racoons. They help disperse the seeds and nuts they consume and also host 60 different types of parasites like Nematodes and Roundworms

Threats
The population of wild turkeys decreased at the beginning of the 20th century due to hunting and loss of habitat. It was estimated that there were as few as 30 000 turkeys left that century. 

Conservation
Thanks to the Game officials, they made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population, and some trapped birds were relocated to new areas, including some some other states where it was not native.

FOOD CHAIN

Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
Description
Wild ducks, also known as Mallards, are mostly found in South America, Asia, Africa and Oceana. They live in both fresh and salt water wetlands, including ponds, rivers and lakes. Mallards are not picky eaters. Their diet consists of insects (eg. Beatles, dragonflies), worms, seeds and plant matter. The males and females are distinguished by their colours. The males(drakes) have bottle-green heads and yellow beaks with brown necks and pale grey bodies. The females are covered with a more distinct brown pattern on each of their feathers with an orange and black beak. 

Interesting Facts
Mallards have a longer migration period than other ducks, which extends from late summer to early winter. Female mallards “quack” louder than the male mallards. Mallards shed the feathers used in flight twice a year, the feathers grow back in two weeks. In that period of time, they are unable to fly. Mallards' well-known waddle is due to the fact that it has legs set far back on its body. Mallard ducks escape the cold winters of the north by flying south during this season. They fly in flocks and often to the same spot year after year. They rely on landforms such as coast lines and valleys to guide them.

Importance in the ecosystem
Mallards provide as a source of food for their predators like foxes and racoons. They also serve as important seed dispersers. Their ability to fly over long distances alows them to disperse the seeds of which they have eaten before.

Threats
Mallards are not considered a threatened spieces. However, one threat to the population includes inbreeding between other waterfowl.

Conservation
In the United States, ownership of Mallards is legal with the exception of Florida. To conserve Mallards, having ownership of Mallards is encouraged to prevent hybridisation.

FOOD CHAIN

FOOD WEB