If there is a bird's flight limit, it is the footless bird in wong Kar Wai's movie, except for death landing, spending its whole life in the sky. In reality, the title of the most flying bird is probably awarded to the albatross, who have flown more than 8 million kilometers in their lifetime, which is more than 10 times the number of scrap miles of a private car, which is equivalent to 10 rounds of the moon.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > is the most capable of flying, spending 90% of the time in the air</h1>
The albatross is the largest seabird on the ocean, with a figure of more than 1 meter, spread wings, a wingspan of 3 to 4 meters, and the world's smallest aircraft has a wingspan length of 4.9 meters. The wandering albatross is the largest, reaching a length of 1.4 meters and a maximum weight of 16.1 kg.
As the name suggests, the Drifting Albatross was born to drift, flying at sea 90 percent of his 60-year life. From the first time they learn to fly, they will stay in the air for 4 to 5 years without landing, and fly for 6 hours without flaunting their wings.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > why can they fly for hours without stirring up wings? </h1>
This is actually determined by the wings of birds, and the wings of birds are divided into four types: weight-bearing wings, agile wings, speed wings and gliding wings.
Eagle vultures are equipped with load-bearing wings, which are relatively wide and have gaps between feathers, which can carry heavy loads but are more laborious.
Some small birds living in the forest, such as woodpeckers and sparrows, are agile wings, which are highly flexible and can change direction quickly, but cannot maintain long flight.
Swallows, pigeons, etc. are all speed wings, and they need to constantly flap their wings to maintain high speed flight.
Seagulls, albatrosses and seabirds are equipped with gliders, they are characterized by long and narrow wings, the most labor-saving, so some birds equipped with gliders can fly in the sky for several days continuously, and do not vibrate their wings for a long time, but the biggest problem is that it is difficult to take off, and it needs to be assisted by enough sea breeze when taking off, just like the aircraft take-off process on an aircraft carrier.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > lesbian, and 1/3 of female black-backed albatrosses maintain same-sex relationships</h1>
When zoologists looked at a population of albatrosses in Hawaii, they found that about 31 percent of female albatrosses maintained long-term same-sex relationships. Usually they are pairs of pairs to take care of each other, only in the breeding period, will go to the male to mate, hatch the birds, will be with the same sex to feed the chicks, until they grow up.
Homosexuality among animals is a very common existence, and according to surveys, there are more than 1500 species of homosexual behavior in nature, from worms to humans. Among them, the most widespread "homosexual" situation is the bottlenose dolphin, 50% of male dolphins maintain "improper relations" with other males, and same-sex mating and heterosexual mating frequency is almost the same. The chimpanzees closest to humans also have obvious homosexual tendencies, of which 2/3 of the homosexuals are females, and female bonobos rub against each other every 2 hours with their "good sisters", and when they have disputes and conflicts, they often use "making love" to solve them, rather than fighting.
For evolutionary biologists, same-sex behavior is definitely a "Darwinian paradox," and shouldn't this kind of behavior that cannot produce offspring be eliminated by nature?
From a purely genetic point of view, homosexual behavior is certainly not conducive to animal population reproduction. But the point is that in nature, most animals with homosexual tendencies also mated with the opposite sex and left offspring, and most importantly, homosexual behavior can bring many benefits in terms of social cooperation.
For males, through the act of homosexuality, individuals can form intimate alliances to resist threats from other animals and to rob resources and improve social status. The female can reduce the pressure of brooding through homosexuality, generally the male will be a "hand-throwing treasurer", after mating will be the responsibility of childbearing to the female, the female will take care of each other through this same-sex behavior, reducing the pressure of brooding.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > tragic seabird fate</h1>
In the face of the deterioration of the marine environment, the survival of albatrosses has also been seriously challenged. Among the 14 species of albatrosses, there are 2 species of "critically endangered", 3 species of "endangered" and 6 species of "vulnerable", of which the short-tailed albatross is a national first-class protected animal. The main threat to these seabirds comes from "longline fishing" fishing boats, and the albatross attracted by the bait is easily strangled by the hook net, and the net sinks, and the albatross will drown in the water.
American photography artist Chris Jordan's 2015 series, In Midway
The other is the accidental consumption of plastic. The plastic floating on the shore will be mistaken for food by the albatross, they will pick it up and feed it to their offspring, and the indigestible plastic will fill the esophagus and stomach of the little albatross, and eventually the little albatross will suffocate and starve to death in misery. What albatross parents did not expect was that this heavy love eventually turned into a manslaughter for their children.
This is the sad song of the albatross, and what we have to do is to make the albatross no longer need to "believe in the heavens", but believe in human beings!