FLYING HIGH
In late 1973, a Rüppell’s Griffon collided with an aircraft over Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. Bird strikes are not uncommon, but what made the abrupt demise of this particular vulture unusual was the altitude at which it happened: 11 kilometres above the ground. That any animal can survive and function at such an altitude is remarkable, even if in this instance the griffon probably reached this height by soaring on thermals rather than in flapping flight.
Birds are inherently better suited to operating at altitude than mammals are. One key factor is the structure of the avian respiratory system. Mammals have a respiratory cycle that involves the inhalation of oxygenated air into the lungs, followed by the exhalation of partially deoxygenated air before the next inhalation. Birds possess a network of air sacs surrounding the lungs, arranged in such a way that oxygenated air flows continuously through the lungs regardless of whether the bird is inhaling or exhaling, providing a far more efficient mechanism for getting oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2019-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2019-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.