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Sophiornithidae
The Sophiornithidae (literally "wisdom birds") are an extinct family of chicken-sized predatory birds that lived from the Paleocene to the Eocene periods of the Cenozoic, and were found primarily in Europe, and are thought to be primitive owls. The French genera ''Berruornis'' (Late Paleocene to Late Eocene/Early Oligocene), as well as '' Palaeotyto'' and '' Palaeobyas'' from Quercy, are sometimes placed in this family. The latter might instead be barn-owls, while the first might be a very basal owl but not an actual sophiornithid. ''Strigogyps'' was placed here for a time, but it has been revised several times since thenPeters, Dieter Stefan (2007): The fossil family Ameghinornithidae (Mourer-Chauviré 1981): a short synopsis. ''Journal of Ornithology'' 148(1): 25-28. and appears to be an ameghinornitid; these were distant relatives of the Seriema The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owls
Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight. Exceptions include the diurnal northern hawk-owl and the gregarious burrowing owl. Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except the polar ice caps and some remote islands. Owls are divided into two Family (biology), families: the True owl, true (or typical) owl family, Strigidae, and the barn-owl family, Tytonidae. A group of owls is called a "parliament". Anatomy Owls possess large, forward-facing eyes and ear-holes, a hawk-like beak, a flat face, and usually a conspicuous circle of feathers, a facial disc, around each eye. The feathers making u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owls
Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight. Exceptions include the diurnal northern hawk-owl and the gregarious burrowing owl. Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except the polar ice caps and some remote islands. Owls are divided into two Family (biology), families: the True owl, true (or typical) owl family, Strigidae, and the barn-owl family, Tytonidae. A group of owls is called a "parliament". Anatomy Owls possess large, forward-facing eyes and ear-holes, a hawk-like beak, a flat face, and usually a conspicuous circle of feathers, a facial disc, around each eye. The feathers making u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barn-owls
Barn-owls (family Tytonidae) are one of the two families of owls, the other being the true owls or typical owls, Strigidae. They are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. They also differ from the Strigidae in structural details relating in particular to the sternum and feet. Barn-owls are a wide-ranging family, although they are absent from northern North America, Saharan Africa, and large parts of Asia. They live in a wide range of habitats from deserts to forests, and from temperate latitudes to the tropics. Within these habitats, they live near agricultural areas with high amounts of human activity. The majority of the 20 living species of barn-owls are poorly known. Some, like the red owl, have barely been seen or studied since their discovery, in contrast to the common barn-owl, which is one of the best-known owl species in the world. However, some subspecies of the common barn-owl poss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strigogyps
''Strigogyps'' is an extinct genus of Fossil birds, prehistoric bird from the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene of France and Germany. It was probably around the size of a large chicken or a guan (bird), guan, weighing not quite . Apparently, as indicated by the ratio of lengths of wing to leg bones, ''S. sapea'' was flightless. Its legs were not adapted to running, so it seems to have had a walking lifestyle similar to Psophiidae, trumpeters. Unlike other Cariamiformes, which appear to have been mostly carnivorous, ''Strigogyps'' specimens suggest a herbivorous diet. The type species of ''Strigogyps'' is ''S. dubius'', which was described by Gaillard in 1908. It was initially placed in the owl order (biology), order Strigiformes and considered to be a Sophiornithidae, sophiornithid. ''S. dubius'' is based on a single tibiotarsus from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene Quercy phosphorites of France. This tibiotarsus was destroyed in World War II during the bombing of Munich, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by Chicxulub impact, an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Bird Families
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Prey
Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators have keen eyesight for detecting prey from a distance or during flight, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing off flesh. Although predatory birds primarily hunt live prey, many species (such as fish eagles, vultures and condors) also scavenge and eat carrion. Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, ornithologists typically use the narrower definition followed in this page, excluding both piscivorous predators such as storks, herons, gulls, skuas, penguins and kingfishers, as well as primarily insectivorous birds such as passerine birds (e.g. shrikes) and birds like nightjars and frogmouth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seriema
The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots and passerines, as well as the extinct Phorusrhacidae (terror birds).Hackett, S. J. ''et al''. (2008) A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History. ''Science'' 320(5884):1763–1768 10.1126/science.1157704 The seriemas are large, long-legged territorial birds that range from in length. They live in grasslands, savanna, dry woodland and open forests of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are two species of seriemas, the red-legged seriema (''Cariama cristata'') and the black-legged seriema (''Chunga burmeisteri'').del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1996) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks''. Lynx Edicions. Names for these birds in the Tupian languages are variously ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papéis Avulsos De Zoologia
''Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in systematics, paleontology, evolutionary biology, ecology, taxonomy, anatomy, behavior, functional morphology, molecular biology, ontogeny, faunistic studies, and biogeography. It is published by the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo and hosted by SciELO. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed by Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, DOAJ, Portal de Revistas da USP, SciELO, Scopus, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory and ''The Zoological Record ''The Zoological Record'' (''ZR'') is an electronic index of zoological literature that also serves as the unofficial register of scientific names in zoology. It was started as a print publication in 1864 by the Zoological Society of London, a ...''. References External links * Zoology journals Publications established in 1941 Creative Commons-licensed journals Multilingual journals University of São ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berruornis
''Berruornis orbisantiqui'' was an early fossil owl or owl-like bird recovered from late Paleocene deposits in the region of Reims in northeastern France. It was about the size of a Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Palearctic, Eurasia. It is also called the Uhu and it is occasionally abbreviated to just the eagle-owl in Europe. It is one of the largest species of owl, ... (''Bubo bubo''). References Owls Paleocene birds Fossils of France Fossil taxa described in 1994 Prehistoric bird genera {{paleo-bird-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
