Birds have conquered the sky, and in the sky, birds have few rivals. Among mammals, only bats can barely fly into the sky, but they have also become prey for raptors. Flying seems to be an instinct of birds, and many birds have also developed their own unique skills in flight.

For example , the peregrine falcon will use the gravity of the earth to swoosh after flying high in the sky, and the fastest speed can reach more than 300 kilometers per hour; like the frigate bird , which is proficient in flying skills, it not only often robs the labor results of other birds, but also can survive in strong winds. Among them, it can fly with ease without being blown away; for example, the bar-tailed godwit can go without food or drink for 11 days, and the flight distance reaches 12,200 miles, successfully flying more than half of the earth.

Today, I will introduce a bird called "footless bird". Nearly 99% of its life is spent in flight. It is the fastest existence in flight - "Swift"!

The fastest flying among birds

In the movie "The True Story of A Fei", there is such a line: " There is a kind of bird in this world that has no feet. It can only fly continuously. When it is tired, it sleeps in the wind. This kind of bird can only go to the ground once in a lifetime. That time was the time of death. "

In real life, the prototype of this "footless bird" is Swift.

Like other birds, the ancestors of swifts used to find a tree to rest when they were tired, and when they encountered a bird they liked, they would reproduce together and find a tree to build a nest to give birth to. Although they already live in trees far away from the ground, they still cannot escape the coveted feline predators, taking advantage of the opportunity of Swift's ancestors to rest and reproduce.

In order to alleviate this pressure of life, the ancestors of Swift chose to live in the air, so that as long as they did not land, they would not give these cats a chance to take advantage. So the swift's wings are shaped like a sickle. This wing shape consists of ten long primary flight feathers and a set of short secondary flight feathers. Such a wing shape enables the swift to flap its wings quickly to fly, and It can also save energy when gliding,

It is precisely because of this flying ability that some Swifts live in flight after learning to fly from birth. Once a scientific research team placed a miniature recorder on the body of the swift, and found that the swift did not stop flying for 10 months.

Swifts spend nearly 99% of their life flying, eating, drinking, and laughing. Such flying also makes Swifts a flying expert. Among the Swifts, the sharp-tailed Swift species has become the fastest flying bird in the world. It reaches 350 km/h, which is equivalent to a speed of 97 m/s, which is very amazing.

Swift's flying life

How do swifts living in the air live their lives?

In terms of food, Swift's food is mainly all kinds of flying insects in the air. Swift's eyesight is particularly good, and it can easily detect flying insects in the air, use its high speed to fly to the prey, and then only need to open its mouth, and the food will be delivered to the mouth by itself.

When the swift wants to drink water, it will fly to the nearby water source, make a high-speed dive on the water surface, open its mouth while diving, and sweep across the water surface, the problem of drinking water is solved, this high-speed There is no possibility of being attacked by big fish in the water.

In terms of sleep, swifts, like other migratory birds, have evolved a sleep pattern of "hemibrain slow-wave sleep" in order to fly uninterruptedly. This sleep pattern allows half of the bird's brain to rest while the other half stays awake. In this way, swifts can fly and sleep in the air.

However, this way of sleeping also has drawbacks, that is, resting half of the brain will make the flight of Swift difficult. Fortunately, the structure of Swift's wings can glide for a long time, which overcomes the difficulty of flying.

The problem of excretion is the simplest. After all, birds live in the air, and there are toilets everywhere.

The reproduction of swifts is also carried out in the air. When two swifts see the right eye, they will glide above the sky at the same speed, which is conducive to stabilizing the body and using the flood cavity to make contact for a short period of time. The reproduction activity is completed.

Swift and Bird's Nest

Perhaps the most difficult thing for swifts is to build a nest, because the claws of swifts have been degraded due to long-term flight and cannot land on the ground, and can only be firmly grasped on tree trunks and rough walls. Such swift claws are still full of power!

Swifts generally choose the roof or wall of the cave as a nesting site, and then use sticky saliva and plant twigs, buds, moss and feathers to build their own nests, which is what we call " bird 's nests". ".

There is also a species of swift that builds its nest behind the waterfall. It is difficult to imagine what kind of difficulties and obstacles this swift has to go through to build a nest, which provides a guarantee for the safety of future generations.

Swift's nest will be abandoned after reproduction, which is cheaper for human beings. Since the bird's nest was eaten by the emperor, it has a high economic value . Many people risk their lives to pick bird's nest just to sell it.

And bird's nest actually doesn't have much nutritional value, not even as high as an egg's nutritional value, and the consumption history of bird's nest is only a few hundred years, so don't pay IQ tax for bird's nest!