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What is the main different aspect between human and bird? Bird can fly but human don’t. Human nowadays can fly thanks to the advance technology. What I want to discuss in here is, unlike human, bird was born to fly. Now what if the bird ability to fly is taken away? Flightless bird is the result. They are still a bird they didn’t just can’t fly. Their wing bone structures aren’t well developed, it might be heavy and they lose their flying ability as they adapt to their surroundings. Although they are unable to fly but they are still have other amazing abilities like strong feet, beak, and bigger body. Here are the selection of flightless bird that will be added to your knowledge menu. Enjoy!
1. Dodo
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This fatty bird is well known as Dodo bird. This turkey-sized and populating the Mauritius island. The feather of Dodo is light brown and white with their giant hooked beak. The scientist believed that Dodo is related with pigeon. Unfortunately this cute bird is already extinct since the 17th century because of their inability of fly. They are hunted for their meat until they are extinct from this world. How pity we cannot see this bird anymore.
2. Rhea
When it comes to features, shape and make, you might took it for Ostrich. Rhea, could gain a good height of 5.5ft and can weigh up to 40 kilograms. Despite the large wing span of 8.2ft, they couldn’t make it off the ground, remember, the keel, think, I told you about. They don’t have it. Other than that, they’re almost like Ostrich. Strong legs, full-fluffy wings to span while running. Long neck. The largest flightless bird, if you’d look in the American sub-continent.
3. Kakapo
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The ancient, flightless Kakapo is the world’s rarest and strangest parrot. It the only flightless and nocturnal parrot, as well as being the heaviest in the world, weighing up to 3.5 kilograms (8 lbs).
The birds live in New Zealand, an island country which had virtually no mammals living on it for millions of years. It was a place inhabited by birds and reptiles. The only types of mammal were two species of bats. The Kakapo did not learn the defense mechanisms to combat or escape mammalian predators. This made the parrot very vulnerable when new animals started showing up.
The arrival of Polynesian peoples thousands of years ago, of Europeans in the 1800’s, and ultimately the pets and livestock they brought with them resulted in the massive decline of Kakapo populations from hundreds of thousands to a mere handful of birds.
4. Emu
The emu is the second-largest bird in the world, and can reach speeds of up to 30 mph while running. They can reach heights of around 6 feet due to their long, thin necks and legs. They have one of the strongest legs around, and can even tear down fences and other obstacles. Emus are shy flightless birds, and are mostly found in the grasslands and deserts of Australia. Their brown color easily camouflages them in the surroundings. Though, the grunt of an emu can be heard more than a mile away.
5. Takahe
This bird went missing from around the 1800s till the mid-20th century, but were again discovered in the late 1940s. These birds are comparatively small, standing at heights ranging from 1½ to 2 feet. They have distinctive bright-red beaks that stand out. Adults are bluish-purple in color, with greenish backs. Takahes are quite noisy, but at the same time pretty shy. The males and females are usually of the same size
6. Ostrich
The ostrich is the largest living bird on our planet, and is rightly called the ‘king of birds’. They became extinct from the Middle East in the mid-20th century, and are now found only in Africa. Interestingly, when the dinosaurs were around, these birds could fly very well to escape becoming prey. But with the extinction of the dinosaurs, they no longer needed this ability, and would benefit more by walking on the ground to find food. As such, over millions of years, they lost the ability to fly.
7. Cassowary
This blue-necked bird is considered as the second largest bird. Cassowaries favorite foods are fruits, sometimes they are also omnivorous as well. Although they can’t fly, but they are equipped with strong claw that can kill us in instance. It has feared reputation as one of the dangerous bird in the world. Fortunately, they are shy in nature, but don’t try to provoked them, otherwise you will get trouble from them.
8. Penguin
Penguins are birds that cannot fly, but are excellent swimmers, which is why they spend a lot of time in the water. Out of 18 penguin species, only 3 species live exclusively in Antarctica, while the rest are scattered in many places around the Southern Hemisphere.
Over millions of years of evolution has changed the wings of these birds into flippers, which are better suited for traveling through water. These flightless birds can in fact be called aquatic animals. They can reach speeds of up to 5 – 6 mph in the water.
9. Flightless Commorant
The flightless cormorant look a little bit like a mallard. The different aspect is comes from their wings and shorter body. Their native habitat is in Ecuador or in Galapagos Island. They have a long beak, turquois eye and webbed skin. Although they couldn’t fly, but they are an excellent swimmer.
10. Steamer Duck
Steamer ducks are aggressive creatures, and there is known to be a lot of infighting in their groups. Except for the flying steamer duck, the other three in this species are all flightless.
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