#palaeognathae

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

forget if i've already asked, but have you done kiwi bird?

I can do a different species than the last ones!

Have you seen the southern brown kiwi (Apteryx australis)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onJun 28

[hasellia]

2026DrawDinoDaily, Day 81, Marchosauria, 21.03.2036

Elegant Crested Tinamou Eudromia elegans

Wah, not as happy with this one. Brain kinda melted today. Cute lil guys! They're ratites, so more Emu, Ostrich, Rhea or Cassowary than quail or partridge. Tinamous have basal characteristics of the ratite common ancestor, & indeed is the only ratite capable of (limited) powered flight. Strange that they radiated out from flying ancestors that all decided to stick to the ground, mostly independently. The only ones that are particularly close are the Emu & Cassowary ( to my knowledge, I could be wrong).

[saritawolf]

Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

[corvidaemnit]

let’s talk about the kiwi!!

(an info-dump about one of the weirdest, most scientifically interesting birds we know of today!)

so, we’ve all heard about ratites, right?

well, maybe you don’t know them by name, but you’ve most certainly either heard about them or seen them at some point.

some commonly known members of the ratite group are species like ostriches, emus, and cassowaries— as shown below:

ratites are all flightless birds within the infraclass palaeognathae— the infraclass that none other than the (now extinct) moa and elephant bird belong to!

now, these birds all share very similar characteristics; they’re large, long-necked, and long-legged with big clawed feet. all of these birds are also diurnal— which means they’re primarily active during the day time, just like us!

however, there is one species in this infraclass that is not quite like the others..

the kiwi.

not only are kiwi significantly smaller than their fellow ratites, but they also happen to be nocturnal.

and despite being small, their eggs are incredibly large, taking up to around 20% of the kiwi’s body weight, which has caused a lot of rigorous debate between scientists on exactly why.

one outdated theory suggested that perhaps the kiwi had shrunk over time from previously being very large like its ratite relatives, while its egg remained big…. but this has been debunked in recent years.

the current consensus, while still a theory, is that the egg size has to do more with precocity than anything else;

kiwis are born precocial, which makes them pretty much immediately independent upon hatching, with the ability to run and feed themselves without the help of their parents.

modern DNA analysis suggests that the size of kiwi eggs is not just a left-over trait from ‘incomplete’ evolution, but instead the exact opposite— an evolved adaptation to ensure better chances of survival.

due to their sheer size, kiwi eggs house more yolk than average, which ends up keeping newly hatched kiwis nice and fed until they learn to forage food for themselves.

when mammals began to spread in new zealand, kiwis had way more predators to worry about, and it’s theorized that they were previously unequipped to deal with this startling introduction of land-predators, such as stoats and rats, that started feeding on their eggs.

this could explain why kiwi eggs have developed to be so large over time— they give the chicks plentiful nutrients and thicker shells to ensure a better chance of survival against predation.

so… yeah. kiwis produce monster eggs and no one fully knows why just yet. neat, huh?

and that’s not even where the weirdness ends, my friends!

on top of all of this, it’s been a running joke in the bird world that kiwis are ‘honorary mammals,’ not only because of their weirdly mammalian appearance, but also because of some of their atypical biological traits.

for instance, kiwis have an average body temperature of around 38 degrees celsius .. aka, 100 degrees fahrenheit.

while this is not typical at all for birds, this is very typical for mammals, which has stumped a lot of researchers over the years.

similarly, kiwis are also the only bird in the world with exposed nostrils at the end of their beak, which can help them detect prey by using scent instead of their vision, which is very poor.

so… yeah. kiwis are the nocturnal, freakish little cousins of some of the biggest, most dangerous birds on the planet, and scientists are, quite frankly, still a little weirded out by them.

[life-on-our-planet]

Brown Kiwi Mating Spectacle | Wild New Zealand | BBC Earth

[every-day-creechur]

Southern Brown Kiwi Apteryx australis

A kiwi bird from the South Island of New Zealand. It is a monogamous species and once paired up, they will defend their territories with warning calls. They will also sing duets with each other, with the male shrill "kee-wee" or "kee-kee" and the females hoarse " kurr kurr".

image by jonoplant123

[rafallerart]

I love painting birds and I love painting plants, so I decided to combine the two in this illustration of a male Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes) with an umbrella thorn acacia tree (Vachellia tortilis). The Somali ostrich is one of two living ostrich species, which both make up the family Struthionidae. Part of its diet includes the pods and leaves of the umbrella thorn tree, hence its inclusion in this painting.

I had a blast working on this, and I really hope I can paint more birds (or at least more ratites/palaeognaths) in this style. This painting is watercolor on hot press paper, 8x10 inches.

[hentedguitar]

temu 1 and temu 2