Birds

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrate animals. With around 10,000 living species, they are the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. All present species belong to the subclass Neornithes, and inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Modern birds are characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. All living species of birds have wings; the most recent species without wings was the moa, which is generally considered to have become extinct in the 16th century. Wings are evolved forelimbs, and most bird species can fly. Flightless birds include ratites, penguins, and a number of diverse endemic island species. Birds also have unique digestive and respiratory systems that are highly adapted for flight. Some birds, especially corvids and parrots, are among the most intelligent animal species; a number of bird species have been observed manufacturing and using tools, and many social species exhibit cultural transmission of knowledge across generations.

In film

 * Eight Legged Freaks: In the 2002 "creature feature" film Eight Legged Freaks, an arachnologist named Joshua Taft kept a male parrot as a pet at Taft's Exotic Spider Farm. The parrot had a habit of quoting the line "I see dead people" from the 1999 film The Sixth Sense. Taft unwittingly fed his spiders some crickets that had been exposed to toxic waste. As such, they grew into huge predatory creatures and killed Taft, wrapping him up inside of a cocoon. A jumping spider than leaped upon the parrot, killing it as well. Mayor Wade prided himself on his ostrich farm, believing it to be a sound investment. Unfortunately, his investment became a bit of an appetizer for the giant spiders that raided his farm.

Types of birds

 * Ostriches
 * Parrots