Earth is a wonderful place where there are creatures of all sizes and colors. We all are fascinated by wings and often wonder if we could fly as well. Researches say that there are about 9000-10000 species of birds that inhabit our planet earth. Some are small as a thumb some are big and heavy. Our list contains the biggest birds across the globe. Ever wondered how they fly with that weight?
- Northern cassowary
Also known as the one-wattled cassowary, single-wattled cassowary, or golden-necked cassowary, the northern cassowary is a large, thick wingless bird belonging to northern New Guinea. Southern cassowary and dwarf cassowary along with the northern cassowary are the only three variety of cassowary. In 1860, Edward Blyth was the first person to identify the northern cassowary from a specimen from an aviary that is situated in Calcutta, India.
- Emu
Emu is the second-largest living bird by tallness, after the ostrich which is at top of the list. It is considered the largest native bird in Australia from where it actually originated .Talking about its features,Emus have soft feathers with a brown body and they cannot fly. Their height can go up to 1.9 meters and they have very long necks and legs. Emus are good long travelers, who can also run at a speed of 50km/h. The diet of emu is simple as they feed on plants and insects. One amazing fact about them is that they can live for a more than a week without food and water which they don’t often drink. A funny thing about them is that the females often fight for a a common male for mating. The Tasmanian emu has already gone extinct in the 1800s, so its a concern for their other species as they often get killed in road accidents and by hunters.
- Mute swan
Mute swan is native to much of Eurosiberia and north of Africa. Today it is also found in North America and southern Africa. The name ‘mute’ is given to this bird as it is only a little vocal than other swan species. Their body length goes up to 125 to 170 cm and has a body which is entirely white covered with feathers with an orange bill bordered with black. It is identifiable by its noticeable knob at the top of its beak, which is bigger in males.The mute swan is found primarily in temperate regions of Europe.
- Greater rhea
The greater rhea is a bird which cannot fly and is native to eastern South America. Other names for the greater rhea include the American rhea or Ema. Greater rhea can be found in open regions, such as grasslands, savanna or grassy wetlands. They weigh around 20–27 kilograms becoming the largest bird in South America and the largest native bird anywhere in the America. the male bird are mostly bigger and darker than the females.Greater rheas have soft looking feathers, that is gray or brown in colour.
- Marabou stork
Marabou stork lives in Africa south of the Sahara, in both wet and dry habitats. They are often found near areas where humans live as it provides them food, particularly at landfill sites. It is sometimes known as the “undertaker bird” due to its form from behind cloak like big wings and back, thin white legs, and it white hair.The marabou stork is a big and heavy bird with height of 152 cm and weighing almost 9 kg .
- Shoe bill
The shoe bill also known as whale head, whale-headed stork, or shoe-billed stork, is a very large stork-like bird. the name is given to it due to its enormous shoe-shaped bill.The adult shoe bill is mainly gray while the young ones are of brown colour. It is found in tropical east Africa from South Sudan to Zambia living in large swamps .The shoe bill was best-known to both ancient Egyptians and Arabs. talking about its height which goes between 110 to 140 cm, it is very tall.
- king penguin
King penguin is the second largest species of penguin and are smaller, but a little bit similar in visual aspect to the emperor penguin. King penguins primarily consume lanternfish, squid and krill. On hunting journey, king penguins repeatedly swim to over 100 meters and have been filmed at water level greater than 300 meters. Predators of the king penguin include giant petrels, skuas, the snowy sheathbill, the leopard seal and the orca. King penguins breed on the Subantarctic islands at the northern side of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the area.The height of king penguin goes between 70 to 100 cm and they weigh around 9.3 to 18 kg . 70% of king penguins are expected to suddenly vanished in less than eighty years. Talking about the indicators of happening in marine ecosystems, king penguins is a essential species for knowing the effects of climate change on the marine life.
- Cinereous vulture
Cinerous vulture is also titled as the black vulture, monk vulture and Eurasian black vulture. They are big raptorial birds and that are distributed around the temperate Eurasia.the length of their body is 1.2 m and weighs almost 14 kg. They lies in the list of the largest Old World vultures. The cinereous vulture is mainly a unsocial bird and is found mostly alone and rarely in pairs. The cinereous vulture’s diet is on decaying bodies of dead animals of almost any type, from the largest mammals to fish and reptiles. The cinereous vulture has been in threat in the last 200 years because of poisoning due to consuming poisoned bait put out to kill dogs and other predators. Another threat to it is decreasing number of carrion due to maintenance of hygiene by humans. Currently these threats made it listed as Near Threatened birds .
- Dwarf cassowary
Dwarf cassowary that is also known as Bennett’s cassowary, little cassowary, mountain cassowary or mooruk, is the smallest bird among the other three species of cassowaries. They have a height between 99 and 150 cm long and weighs around is 17.6 and 26 kg . Dwarf cassowary has a hard and strong black body covering, a low triangular casque, red marking of skin on its blue neck and pink cheeks.Compared to other cassowaries, the dwarf cassowary is shorter, with a tarsi length of 24.5 cm. Their feet are big and strong, armored with sharp claws on the innermost toe. Both sexes are similar and Females have longer casques, gleaming bare skin colour and are bigger in size than males.Dwarf cassowaries utilize their peak on their head to find food such as insects, fungi ,plant tissue, lizards and frogs that present in leaf litters and garbage.The dwarf cassowary has been classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN from 2004 to 2013 because of the change by the loss of habitat, degradation of habitat, getting hunted for food, and often being caged.
- Ostrich
Somali ostrich and common ostrich are two living species from the family of ostrich and are inhabitants of Africa. Other than Being the heaviest birds, they are flightless. People prefer not to mess with this giant bird as they can run at a speed of 70km/h. The skin of the bird is used to make leather products and its feathers are used as decorations and feather dusters. An ostrich’s egg is the largest egg among all the living land animals.
