Songbird of doom4/17/2023 One of the most distinctive of all Australian birds, however, is one that can't escape by flying - the emu. For example, lyrebirds are endemic to Australia, and are considered to form the oldest living branch of the songbird family tree. At the same time, however, it is isolated enough that it does include some unique kinds of bird that are not found on other continents - less than the number of unique mammal groups, to be sure, but a number nonetheless. It's notable, in fact, that one of the two groups of native placental mammals in Australia are the bats, which are also also found further out in the Pacific islands.Īnyway, the upshot of this is that the birds of Australia frequently fall into taxonomic groups familiar from elsewhere in the world Australia has owls, doves, seagulls, and parrots, among many others. (They may not be doing so deliberately, of course, but being blown off course in a storm is the sort of risk they have to put up with). Birds, however, have an advantage that most mammals don't, in that they can fly long distances between land masses without dying. It's that sort of day.Īustralia is the most isolated continent to possess native mammals, so perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the mammals that live there are particularly unusual, often only distantly related to those elsewhere. Specifically demon ducks, although I nearly went with flightless boobies. Since today is 1st April, although I'm not doing a spoof post, I am taking my annual break from mammals to talk about birds.
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