Animal Diaries Archive

Key features to defining a Raptor

20 April 2007

G'day and welcome to another fantastic week in the Bird Department. This week we are going to extend on last weeks topic "Birds Of Prey" and have a look at what make a Bird a Raptor and the key features that separate them from the rest of the Birds of Prey.

Here in Australia we are blessed with many different species of birds - and in this article we will be having a look at the Raptors and what makes them different from the other groups of birds. There are three Key features to defining a Raptor.

1: Their eyes
A raptors eyes are 8 times clearer and 2 to 2.5 times stronger than our vision. They can see 8 changes per second, where as we can only see 1.
They can see heat excreting from a prey item. A great example of how good their eye sight is that a Wedge-tailed Eagle can see a rabbit from approximately 2 Kilometers away.

2: Their Beaks
A raptor has a hooked or curved beak. This is their primary eating tool, the knife and fork if you will. They use this to tear their prey into bite size pieces.

3: Their Feet
All raptors have three forward facing toes and one backward facing toe. Each are equipped with long, razor sharp talons. The rear talon is longer than the rest and it is known as "The Killer Talon". This is because when a raptor hunts a prey item it uses it feet as a fatal tool. They grab the prey within their feet and insert this killer talon into the prey item, rhythmically squeezing trying to hit any vital organs. This is the primary way raptors kill their prey.

So as you can see there a few simple but vital rules that make a Bird a Raptor.
Until next week Raptors RULE!!!!

Chris W