• Question: whats the life expectants of a bird with no wings

    Asked by sidcuprfc123 to Callum, Gina, Katie, Michelle, Sam on 15 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Callum Johnston

      Callum Johnston answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      If it was out in the wild I don’t think it would live very long because their mum and dads only feed them until they are old enough to fly themselves so then it wouldn’t be able to get food and die. But if someone found it, took it in, looked after it and fed it I think it would be able to live as long as a normal bird.

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi, I really like your question because I’m from New Zealand, and our national animal is a Kiwi, a bird that can’t fly (it sort of looks like a rugby ball with legs and a beak). A kiwi has wings, but they are so small that they can’t be used to fly. It lives on the ground and finds bugs in the leaf litter to eat. So in some ways it is like a bird without wings, because it doesn’t use the ones it has.

      About 200 years ago this wasn’t a problem for the kiwi, there were no animals living on the ground that it needed to fly away from to stop being eaten. But when europeans arrived in New Zealand they brought stoats, ferrets and weasles with them, who eat can kiwi eggs & kiwi chicks. Now, sadly, the Kiwi is in great danger of becoming extinct because of its predators.

    • Photo: Sam Godfrey

      Sam Godfrey answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      I guess it also depends on the bird. If an ostrich had no wings I don’t think it would bother it much. It is huge and can kick the hell out of anyone messing with it. So it’ll live a relatively normal life. Birds like sparrows though get eaten often by cats, and if they couldn’t fly, then they wouldn’t last long at all.

    • Photo: Katie Howe

      Katie Howe answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      I think it would depend on what kind of bird and how much they need their wings to help them catch their food and get away from predators.

      A lot of pet birds like parrots have their wings clipped so they can’t fly away but they can still survive. But a lot of people think this is cruel as most birds need to fly to get exercise. What do you think?

      Thanks for your question!

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