Birds are animals with backbones; they lay eggs, can make their own body heat, and have wings. They are also the only animals with feathers. Not all birds can fly. The first birds lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.
Is it true? Ostrich eggs are the biggest eggs ever laid by a bird.
No. The extinct bird Aepyornis laid the biggest eggs of all time. Each one was about the size of 150 hen’s eggs.
Where do birds come from?
Birds evolved from small, meat-eating dinosaurs. Fossils show that some of these dinosaurs had feathers. They are called ‘dinobirds’. The first ‘dinobirds’ probably could not fly.
Amazing! Today’s hoatzin bird, which lives in South America, has claws on its wings when young – just like Archaeopteryx, its prehistoric ancestor did.
Which was the first true bird?
The first true bird – a bird that could fly – appeared about 150 million years ago. It is known as Archaeopteryx, which means ‘ancient wing’. It had claws on its wings.