What is the largest animal in the world if asked? You won't hesitate to say blue whales, but if you were asked to name the world's largest bird, would you suddenly have a blank brain and say some birds of prey, which are actually vultures and eagles, after all, everyone has learned the same thing in their lives.
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In fact, there are many large birds, some of them can kick humans to death, some are six meters long, and some can even kill lions. Hello everyone, welcome to watch this issue of the small Qi science archives, today to take you to see some of these birds in the "giant", like this issue of the video, please press for me long press likes and attention, your support is my greatest motivation.
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The first to appear is a strange bird called the whale-headed stork. Whale-headed storks are known for their large, thick beaks, and in addition to their wide beaks, they can reach a length of 1.4 meters, which is already very amazing for humans. Although it looks very thick, it is actually very fierce.
Their beaks are very sharp, and if you look closely, you'll notice that their beaks have a back-hooked structure, which allows their beaks to easily pierce the crocodile's skin. Why compare crocodiles? That's because the whale-headed stork lives mainly in Africa, and the whale-headed stork is also known as a "crocodile predator.".
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Of course, this is not to say that the whale-headed stork can really collide with the crocodile, but the whale-headed stork does not talk about martial arts to specially attack the small crocodile, and also likes to engage in sneak attacks, because they like to be active at night, and they will hide during the day, in addition to crocodiles, they will also eat turtles, frogs and other animals.
Whale-headed storks have a very strong sense of territory, once there are creatures stepping into their territory, whale-headed storks will attack, if they can't fight will destroy the invaders' nests at night, the general animals are taking him for granted, even humans, under the premise of angering the whale-headed stork, they can't retreat completely.
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However, compared to the birds that will appear next, the whale-headed stork is still almost interesting.
Andean condor and grey-necked bustard
Its name is the Andean Condor, and you can also call it the Andean Vulture, because there are almost no feathers on the neck and head, and it can be said that it has all the external characteristics of the vulture. Despite its average appearance, it is still known as the "world's largest bird of prey".
Andean condor
The Andean condor has a body length of 1.3 meters, a weight of 30 pounds, and a pair of very powerful and wide wings, and its wingspan can even reach 3.3 meters, and the length of the wingspan has caught up with the height of two adults. Like most vultures, the Andean condor, the main source of food is carrion.
They usually go looking for decomposing carcasses of animals, and only go hunting in the absence of food, hunting small creatures. Rabbits and some birds, for example. The Andean vulture also has a very powerful ability, that is, it has a long lifespan, although it often eats carrion, but it does not prevent them from becoming one of the longest-lived birds in the world.
In general, an Andean condor can live for more than 50 years, and among the Known Andean condors, the oldest directly lives to 79 years old, which may be the benefit of a good stomach. In addition to the Andean condor, there is also a bird similar in size to them, called the grey-necked bustard.
Grey-necked heron bustard
Grey-necked bustards are birds living in southern Africa, their body length can reach 1.35 tons, weighing nearly 40 pounds, but the amazing thing is that despite the heavy body, the gray-necked bustard can still fly, which also makes it one of the heaviest flying animals, but the weight also has a great impact on flight.
Grey-necked heron bustard
Therefore, the gray-necked heron bustard will not fly unless it is a last resort, and will generally choose to walk on land, after all, in birds, this fat weight can fly is already a miracle. The grey-necked heron bustard eats a variety of things, they can eat insects, they can eat small vertebrates, they can eat carrion meat, and even eat plant seeds.
This is followed by some of the large and ferocious birds.
Turkeys, cassowaries and ostriches
First of all, let's take a look at the turkey, it is estimated that when it comes to turkey, most people are full of food, whether the turkey is good or not, I don't know, but the size of the turkey is really large, an adult turkey can weigh 78 pounds, and the body length can reach 1.1 meters.
turkey
From the outside, turkeys look very docile and bulky, but they are still dangerous, because turkeys attack some creatures smaller than themselves, such as human children, and in foreign countries, turkeys attack children every year.
Next, a kind of australian cassowara - southern cassowara, their body length can reach up to 1.7 meters, the height is similar to that of adults, about 1.8 meters, and the weight can reach more than 120 pounds. They have very sharp claws, like daggers, and they are very lethal.
cassowary
Although they do not eat meat, only some jam and seeds, but they are very aggressive, once frightened, they are struggling to jump up, and then struggle to wave their claws, once touched by this sharp claw, the consequences will be very serious.
However, to say that the big brother of the birds, and finally to the ostrich, the first is the Australian ostrich, also known as the "emus", the height of the emus can easily reach 1.9 meters, and has a very strong and powerful thighs, but the emus is more docile, generally will not take the initiative to attack.
ostrich
If someone or creature deliberately provokes it, it will fight back with its own feet, and it is not a very lucky thing to be kicked by it. Finally, the African ostrich, the African ostrich is very powerful, the height can reach 2.8 meters, the body length is also about 3 meters, and the weight is more than 300 pounds.
This giant-like body makes the African ostrich very dangerous, and in some cases can even kill a lion, so most of Africa's carnivores will choose to avoid the African ostrich.