I didn't expect there to be such amazing birds on the earth.
They spend almost their entire lives flying, sleeping, eating, drinking, and even mating in flight, once they land, it almost means death, not to mention rare in birds, even if you look at the whole earth's creatures, there is nothing so "strange".
The amazing animal that this article is going to talk about is the "swift".
There are 84 species of 18 genera and swifts, with a body length of about 10~30 cm and a weight of about 9~150 grams.
Not only do swifts fly fast, they also fly for the best time and distance among birds, flying an average distance of 570 kilometers per day and can fly for 10 months in one breath.
How was this discovered?
In 2014, in order to study the migration trajectory of swifts, the Chinese bird research department installed light-sensitive locators on 31 Beijing swifts, and found that the swifts flew a distance of up to 38,000 kilometers from July to April of the following year, passing through more than 20 countries such as Inner Mongolia, the Tianshan Mountains, and the Red Sea.
Swifts spend 99% of their lives in the air, why do they have such a strong ability to fly?
From the point of view of appearance and structure, the swift's weight is very light, only 9~150 grams, which means that they need to consume very little energy every day, and its "magic weapon" is to have a pair of long wings, the average body length of the swift is 10~30 cm, but the length of the wings is as high as 42~48 cm.
When flying, a pair of long wings can help swifts glide more easily, can save a lot of energy, and scientists have found that there are lice on the swift's body, this lice will suck the blood in the swift's wings, the amount is not much, but it can stimulate the swift's blood circulation and red blood cell regeneration rate, to some extent, the presence of lice can help the swift save flight fatigue.
How do swifts sleep in the air?
To put it simply, the Swift brain is divided into two parts, one part controls the flight, and the other part is responsible for sleeping, this mode is called "hemicerebral slow-wave sleep", just like you are too sleepy at work and dozing off, one side vaguely knows what is happening around you, and the other side also feels like you are sleeping, and when the leader appears, you immediately wake up.
Swifts in the state of "hemicerebral slow-wave sleep" have relatively poor flight balance, so they usually increase their flight altitude to compensate for this shortcoming.
How do swifts feed in the air?
Swifts mainly feed on insects, basically not picky eaters, because they eat more than 7,000 kinds of insects, swifts eat in a similar way to blue whales, they are in the range of 10~100 meters from the ground, while flying, while opening their mouths, in this way, flying in the dense insects, swifts can always eat some.
What to do if you are thirsty?
The conventional impression is that when birds are thirsty, they will land on the water source to replenish fresh water, but once the swifts land, it basically means death, so how do they replenish water?
When swifts are thirsty, they will fly across the water and drink with their mouths open, which has a high demand for the swifts to fly at an altitude.
How do swifts reproduce?
May ~ July is the breeding period of swifts, as mentioned above, the mating of swifts is also completed in the air, but the reproduction needs to be completed in the nest, they use dead branches, dry weeds, feathers and saliva to build nests in tree holes or rock crevices.
Swifts lay 1~6 eggs per litter, and the chicks will be in the air like their parents after 1 month of rearing.
Why does the swift basically mean death as soon as it lands?
As mentioned above, raising young birds requires building nests, and during this period, the swifts are not in the flying state, according to the logic of "basically dying as soon as they land", why do the swifts in the rearing period not die?
First of all, the swift has such a powerful flight ability, thanks to the huge wings, which is the result of evolution, but in the same way, in the process of evolution, the swift also paid an extremely "heavy" price, that is, the degradation of the feet.
Unlike other birds, they can take off on a bouncy after landing, but unlike swifts, their feet are so degraded that they can't support their weight.
Let's take a look at the picture below.
Most birds have four paws, one is backwards, which is conducive to supporting the bird's body and making it easy to jump, but the swift's four paws are forward, and once landed, in addition to the degeneration of leg muscles, the foot structure is also not conducive to support.
When swifts hit the ground, they are like they are paralyzed on the ground, and even with their powerful wings, they cannot "take off" on the ground, and can only crawl on the ground with difficulty, and then be eaten by predators or starved to death.
So when you see a falling swift, just hold it in the palm of your hand, as long as there is a little height, the swift can take off.
When swifts raise their offspring, it is also very easy to understand, first of all, their nest has a certain height, it is really not good, swifts can fall down and then take off, in addition, when the swift touches the object, it does not fall horizontally on the ground, but in a nearly vertical posture, hook the object with both feet to stabilize the body, and when taking off, as long as the wings are shaken casually.
There are such amazing animals in nature, which really responds to the saying "the world is full of wonders".
Source: Cicada said
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