Do you know what the fastest bird in the world is? With flesh and blood, it can compete with high-speed rail, and can reach a speed of 418 kilometers in 1 hour! So what exactly is this seemingly fantastic creature?
This bird that flies faster than the high-speed rail is the warship bird, and the mere hearing of this name will surprise many people, because few animals in nature will directly take such a domineering name.
However, as the name suggests, the frigatebird is a large seabird belonging to the pelican order Frigate bird family, an adult frigate bird with a wingspan of up to 2.3 meters, such a large size soaring over the ocean like a fighter jet that has just taken off from a warship.
The frigate bird has a pair of very slender wings and a long, deep forked tail. The length of the frigate bird is generally about 75 cm to 1 meter, the beak of the frigate bird is long and pointed, and the end is curved hook-shaped, which also establishes that this bird is usually mainly meat-eating, their main food is the fish on the water, but sometimes they are also very "overbearing", with their huge size and tough beak to attack other seabirds in order to rob their fish.
It is also very simple to recognize this bird in the flock, that is, they have a dark red throat sac on their chest, and when the warship bird preys on fish or courtship, the role of the throat sac will be revealed, one is to facilitate the storage of food, and the other is to attract the opposite sex to seek mating and reproduction.
In addition, the frigate bird is the fastest bird on the planet, the fastest flight speed when they prey can reach 418 kilometers per hour, which is a lot faster than our high-speed rail, however, they not only fly fast but also can fly steadily, even in the 12-level wind can take off and land smoothly, and they only need a fish for 1000 kilometers.
The frigate bird is the fastest flying creature on the earth, the maximum speed can reach 418 kilometers per hour, but the warship is a military combat readiness that has only appeared in modern times, why is the frigate bird called a frigate bird?
The reason why the frigate bird has such an "avant-garde" name, but also from their living habits, we all know that the frigate bird is a large bird of prey, because it has a pair of wings that are good at flying, and the wingspan can easily reach more than two meters, which means that the frigate bird is basically soaring in the sky during the day. Early humans had limited means of observing birds, making it difficult to spot them.
Superb flying skills mean extremely fast flight speed, when the warship bird finds a target in the water in the air, it will instantly change its flight posture and swoop down in an almost straight posture, its speed is so fast and the flying ability is so high that even the pilot of the fighter with the highest flying ability today will be ashamed of himself.
But this dive does not all mean that they have found a target in the water, it may also be a target in the air, when some other seabirds are flying comfortably in the air with fish, at this time the warship birds swooping down from a high altitude will attack other seabirds, and snatch their fish in the air, and then swallow immediately.
Therefore, the "bad" behavior of the frigate bird was named frigate bird by early ornithologists, and frigate was a kind of sailing ship with cannons used by medieval pirates. In modern English, frigate means frigate, and later, with the development of the international community, people simply called this bird a warship bird.
However, the frigate bird is already a more "positive" name for it, because of its robber-like behavior, people in many places will call it robber bird.
The overbearing warship bird in the air is considered the "gangster boss" of birds, but even such a strong bird is still at risk of extinction.
When we say frigatebird now, we are referring to a bird called the white-bellied frigatebird, but today, the number of frigatebirds is extremely rare, with a total of less than 1600 pairs distributed worldwide, listed as a threatened species in 1988, upgraded to vulnerable in 1994, and listed as a critically endangered species in 2000. Nowadays, the frigate bird is listed as a first-class protected animal by the mainland.
The frigate bird is mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical coasts and islands around the world, and in China, only the Paracel Islands can see this bird. In addition, this bird can also be seen in the Indian Ocean region and even in some regions such as the United States and Europe at the junction of the warm and tropical regions.
The main reason why the frigate bird is now at risk of extinction is that the habitat where it lives has been damaged, and after research and investigation, it was found that it was because a large number of fine-footed ants appeared around its residence, which eventually led to the destruction of the habitat.
Scientists don't know where these ants come from, either from some birds or because the ecological balance of the original ecological area has been disrupted, causing the colony to flood.
Of course, in addition to these inevitable causes, the increase in hurricanes caused by the Earth's climate change in recent decades is also one of the reasons why frigate birds are on the verge of extinction, although they can withstand a Category 12 hurricane, but in the long run, even the steel body can not be overwhelmed.
At the same time, the warming of the sea water leads to fewer marine fish that can be fed, which indirectly leads to the lack of food for frigate birds, and over time, the population will naturally decrease.
Therefore, for the sake of species diversity on our planet, each of us should play our part in protecting the environment and allowing our children and grandchildren to see these amazing species for themselves.