Animal A Day!

Rhynochetos jubatus I couldn't talk about the Sunbittern yesterday without talking about it's interesting cousin, the Kagu, today. For a fast refresher, the Sunbittern and the Kagu appear to be the only extant members of the Eurypygiformes Order, and both are the only living species in their Families. Despite being relatives, they live in opposite parts of the world-- the Sunbittern in Central America, and the Kagu in New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a French territory in the Pacific Ocean, an archipelago about 750 miles east of Australia. The Kagu currently lives only in the dense, mountainous forests of the island of Grand Terre, and even though they live among the trees, they are actually a terrestrial species, and are almost completely flightless (they have full sized wings and can glide, but do not actually fly). The hunt for insects on the forest floor, and even build their nests on the ground. The wings of the Kagu are not used for flight, but the...

Eurypyga helias Yesterday we learned about the Yellow Bittern, a small Heron that lives in southeast Asia. Just looking at the names, you would assume that today's animal would be a very similar creature... but interestingly, they are not closely related at all. They belong to completely different Orders and don't even live in the same Hemisphere. Crazy how common names work, huh? The Sunbittern is actually a pretty remarkable bird in that it doesn't really have any close relatives at all. It is the sole member of its entire Family, and appears to shares an Order only with a bird called the Kagu that lives on the opposite side of the planet. Both birds were once classified as Gruiformes (alone with Cranes and Rails), but now they've been placed in their very own unique little group. Sunbitterns live in Central and South America, ranging from Mexico down to Brazil. They are typically found in forests that are close to bodies of water. ...