Birds (class Aves) are a group of endothermic vertebrates , characterised

by feathers , a beak with no teeth , the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a

high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart , and a lightweight but
strong skeleton . Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm
(2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) ostrich . They rank as the
class of tetrapods with the most living species, at approximately ten
thousand, with more than half of these being passerines , sometimes known
as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds .
The fossil record indicates that birds are the last surviving dinosaurs ,
having evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of
saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous
period, around 100 million years ago,[3] and the last common ancestor
is estimated to have lived about 95 million years ago.[4] DNA-based
evidence finds that birds radiated extensively around the time of the
CretaceousPaleogene extinction event that killed off the non-avian
dinosaurs. Birds in South America survived this event and then migrated
to other parts of the world via multiple land bridges while diversifying
during periods of global cooling.[5] Primitive bird-like "stem-birds"
that lie outside class Aves proper, in the group Avialae , have been
found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period.[1] Many of these early
stem-birds, such as Archaeopteryx , were not yet capable of fully
powered flight, and many retained primitive characteristics like toothy
jaws in place of beaks and long bony tails.[1][6]
Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the
species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moas and
elephant birds . Wings, which evolved from forelimbs , give most birds the
ability to fly , although further speciation has led to some flightless birds
, including ratites , penguins , and diverse endemic island species of birds .
The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted
for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly the
aforementioned flightless penguins, and also members of the duck family ,
have also evolved for swimming . Birds, specifically Darwin's finches ,
played an important part in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by
natural selection .
Some birds, especially corvids and parrots , are among the most intelligent
animals ; several bird species make and use tools , and many social species
pass on knowledge across generations, which is considered a form of
culture . Many species annually migrate great distances. Birds are
social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs , and
participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and
hunting, flocking , and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird
species are socially monogamous , usually for one breeding season at a
time, sometimes for years, but rarely for life. Other species have

polygynous ("many females") or, rarely, polyandrous ("many males")

breeding systems. Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are
fertilized through sexual reproduction . They are usually laid in a nest
and