Narrative

Musk duck (Biziura lobata) is found in Australia. The male and female are generally both uniformly dark brown. The male has an unusual hanging lobe under its beak. This 24 to 29 inch duck is an excellent diver that rarely flies.

This lifeform is found in Australia.

Ruddy Ducks (Oxyurini Tribe) have stiff tails that help identify them. The following nine species have been assigned to this group:

Heteronetta atricapilla - Black Headed - Neotropic
Oxyura australis - Blue Billed - Australia
Oxyura dominica - Masked - Neotropic
Oxyura jamaicensis - Ruddy - New World
Oxyura leococephala - White Headed - Eurasia
Oxyura macoa - Maccoa Duck - Africa
Oxyura vittata - Argentine Lake - South America
Biziura lobata - Musk Duck - Australia
Thalassornis leuconotos - White Back - Africa

Duck and Geese Family (Family Anatidae) contains the familiar ducks and geese. There are about one hundred and fifty-three species in this family.

Some forms are sometimes regarded as species, and at other times are regarded as subspecies. An attempt has been made here to include as species those forms that frequently appear both ways (Anas crecca/carolinensis, for example).

It is also difficult to exactly count the species, as some authors ignore recently extinct species, and other authors include them in their counts. The following recent extinctions have also been included in the lists that follow as these may cause problems for the taxonomist trying to tie out exact counts:

Labrador Duck - Camptorhynchus labradorius
Korean Shelduck - Tadorna cristata
Madagascan White-Eye - Aythya innotata
Auckland Merganser - Mergus australis
Pink Headed Duck - Rhodonessa caryophyllaca

This family is usually divided into several tribes as it helps the taxonomist and student alike in learning the many species. There is no agreement upon the natural subdivisions of this family. The following divisions were arbitrarily chosen and placed into alphabetical order:

Surface Ducks - Anatinae - 80 species
Geese and Swans - Anserinae - 33 species
Diving Ducks - Aythyinae - 25 species
Mergansers - Mergini - 6 species
Ruddy Ducks - Oxyurinae - 9 species
Total 153 species

Waterfowl Order (Order Anseriformes) contains two different families of rather divergent appearance and habitat. The South American (Neotropical) Screamers contain three species, and the worldwide ducks and geese contain about 153 species to total about 156 species in the order. Actually, at least five of these species are recently extinct, so there are less than the above numbers remaining.

Aves contains about 8,650 different species of living birds known to science. Each year about one new species is discovered in some remote rain forest or remote island. In addition, scientists have been raising many subspecies to full species status which may raise the species count to 10,000.

However, each year about one species goes extinct. The rate of extinction is increasing, and the rate of new discovery is decreasing, so that the number of bird species will soon begin to decline rapidly. Although different taxonomists would organize the birds differently, there are approximately twenty-seven orders of birds. These orders are broken down into about one hundred and fifty-five different families.

Recent research of the genetic structure of some of the shore birds and owls would indicate that the present organization of orders and families should have some modification.

The birds are a worldwide group of animals that are characterized by having the front limbs modified into wings that are used for flying. Perhaps the most unique feature of the birds is the feathers. These feathers are made up of a central support called a quill and a series of small filaments that are hooked together as barbs.

For many years it was believed that Archaeopteryx discovered in Bavaria was the oldest bird from about 150 million years ago. However, in l986, Sankar Chattterjee, a Texas paleontologist, reportedly discovered a bird in the genus Protoavis that lived about 225 million years ago.

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.