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Flightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim, and are thought to have evolved from their flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich
Ostrich

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa . It is the only living species of its family , Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio....
, emu
Emu

The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
, cassowary
Cassowary

The cassowary is a very large flightless bird native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. The Southern Cassowary is the third tallest and second heaviest bird on the planet, smaller only than the Ostrich and Emu....
, rhea
Rhea (bird)

The rheas are species of Flightless bird ratite birds in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater Rhea and the Darwin's Rhea....
, kiwi
Kiwi

A kiwi is any of the species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx . At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites....
, and penguin
Penguin

Penguins are a group of Aquatic animal, flightless bird birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershading dark and white plumage, and their wings have become Flipper ....
s.






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Flightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim, and are thought to have evolved from their flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich
Ostrich

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa . It is the only living species of its family , Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio....
, emu
Emu

The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
, cassowary
Cassowary

The cassowary is a very large flightless bird native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. The Southern Cassowary is the third tallest and second heaviest bird on the planet, smaller only than the Ostrich and Emu....
, rhea
Rhea (bird)

The rheas are species of Flightless bird ratite birds in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater Rhea and the Darwin's Rhea....
, kiwi
Kiwi

A kiwi is any of the species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx . At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites....
, and penguin
Penguin

Penguins are a group of Aquatic animal, flightless bird birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershading dark and white plumage, and their wings have become Flipper ....
s. It's believed by some that most flightless birds evolved in the absence of predators, on islands, and lost the power of flight because they had few enemies — although this is likely not the case for the ratites; the ostrich
Ostrich

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa . It is the only living species of its family , Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio....
, emu
Emu

The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
 and cassowary
Cassowary

The cassowary is a very large flightless bird native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. The Southern Cassowary is the third tallest and second heaviest bird on the planet, smaller only than the Ostrich and Emu....
, as all have claws on their feet to use as a weapon against predators.

Two key differences between flying and flightless birds are the smaller wing bones of flightless birds and the absent (or greatly reduced) keel on their breastbone. The keel anchors muscles needed for wing movement. Flightless birds also have more feathers than flying birds.

New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
 has more species of flightless birds (including the kiwi
Kiwi

A kiwi is any of the species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx . At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites....
s, several species of penguin
Penguin

Penguins are a group of Aquatic animal, flightless bird birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershading dark and white plumage, and their wings have become Flipper ....
s, and the takahe
Takahe

The Takahe or South Island Takahe, Porphyrio hochstetteri is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the Rallidae....
) than any other country. One reason is that until the arrival of humans roughly a thousand years ago, there were no large land predators in New Zealand; the main predators of flightless birds were larger birds.

Some flightless varieties of island birds are closely related to flying varieties, implying flight is a significant biological cost.

The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island Rail
Inaccessible Island Rail

The Inaccessible Island Rail, Atlantisia rogersi, is a small bird of the rail family, Rallidae. It is found only on Inaccessible Island in the Tristan da Cunha, and is notable for being the smallest extant flightless bird in the world....
 (length 12.5 cm, weight 34.7 g). The largest (both heaviest and tallest) flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird, is the Ostrich
Ostrich

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa . It is the only living species of its family , Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio....
 (2.7 m, 156 kg) (although some extinct species grew to larger sizes).

Flightless birds are the easiest to take care of in captivity because they do not have to be caged. Ostriches were once farmed for their decorative feathers. Today they are raised for meat and for their skins, which are used to make leather.

There were also other families of flightless birds, such as the now extinct Phorusrhacidae
Phorusrhacidae

Phorusrhacids , or terror birds, were a family of large carnivorous flightless birds that were the dominant predators in South America during the Cenozoic, 62?2 million years ago....
, that evolved to be very powerful terrestrial predators.

List of recent flightless birds

The following are flightless birds during or after the Holocene
Holocene

The Holocene is a geological Epoch which began approximately 11,700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present....
 period.

Ratites

  • Ostrich
    Ostrich

    The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa . It is the only living species of its family , Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio....
  • Emu
    Emu

    The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
  • Kangaroo Island Emu
    Kangaroo Island Emu

    Kangaroo Island Emu or Dwarf Emu is an extinct member of the bird family Casuariidae. It was restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia....
     (extinct)
  • King Island Emu
    King Island Emu

    The King Island Emu or Black Emu is an extinct ratite species which occurred on King Island, Tasmania between mainland Australia and Tasmania....
     (extinct)
  • Cassowaries
    Cassowary

    The cassowary is a very large flightless bird native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. The Southern Cassowary is the third tallest and second heaviest bird on the planet, smaller only than the Ostrich and Emu....
  • Moa
    Moa

    The moa were ten species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
     (extinct)
  • Elephant bird
    Elephant bird

    Elephant birds are an extinction family of flightless birds comprising the genus Aepyornis and Mullerornis....
    s (extinct)
  • Kiwi
    Kiwi

    A kiwi is any of the species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx . At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites....
    s
  • Rhea
    Rhea (bird)

    The rheas are species of Flightless bird ratite birds in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater Rhea and the Darwin's Rhea....
    s
  • Jon Marcinkos


Podicipediformes (Grebes)

  • Junin Flightless Grebe
    Junin Flightless Grebe

    The Junin Flightless Grebe Podiceps taczanowskii, also known as the Puna Grebe and the Jun?n Grebe, is a grebe found only on Lake Junin in the highlands of Jun?n Region, west-central Peru....
  • Titicaca Flightless Grebe
    Titicaca Flightless Grebe

    The Titicaca Flightless Grebe is a grebe found on the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia. As its name implies, its main population occurs on Lake Titicaca....
  • Atitlán Grebe
    Atitlán Grebe

    The Atitl?n Grebe , also known as Giant Grebe, Giant Pied-billed Grebe, or Poc, is an extinct water bird, a relative of the Pied-billed Grebe....
     (extinct, reportedly flightless [Hunter 1988])


Pelicaniformes (Pelicans, Cormorants, et al)

  • Flightless Cormorant
    Flightless Cormorant

    The Flightless Cormorant , also known as the Galapagos Cormorant, is a cormorant native to the Galapagos Islands, and an example of the highly unusual fauna there....


Sphenisciformes (Penguins)

  • Penguin
    Penguin

    Penguins are a group of Aquatic animal, flightless bird birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershading dark and white plumage, and their wings have become Flipper ....
    s


Coraciiformes (Kingfishers, Hornbills, et al)

  • Giant Hoopoe
    Giant Hoopoe

    The Giant Hoopoe , also known as Saint Helena Giant Hoopoe or Saint Helena Hoopoe, is an extinct species of Hoopoe , known exclusively from an incomplete subfossil skeleton....
     (extinct)


Anseriformes (Waterfowl)

  • Moa-nalo
    Moa-nalo

    Moa-nalo are a group of extinct aberrant, goose-like ducks that formerly lived on the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific. They were the major herbivores on most of these islands for the last 3 million years or so, until they became extinct after human settlement....
    s (extinct)
  • Magellanic Flightless Steamer Duck
    Magellanic Flightless Steamer Duck

    The Magellanic Flightless Steamer Duck, Tachyeres pteneres, is a flightless duck from South America. It belongs to the steamer duck genus Tachyeres....
  • Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck
    Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck

    The Falkland Steamerduck, Tachyeres brachypterus, is a duck native to the Falkland Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is one of only two bird species to be endemic to the Falkland Islands , the other being Cobb's Wren....
  • White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck
    White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck

    The White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck or Chubut Steamer Duck is endemic to Argentina.It is the most recently recognized species of steamer duck, being described only in 1981....
  • Auckland Island Teal
  • Campbell Island Teal
    Campbell Island Teal

    The Campbell Island Teal is a small, flightless, nocturnal animal species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas endemic to the Campbell Island group of New Zealand....


Ciconiiformes (Herons, Ibis)

  • Réunion Sacred Ibis
    Réunion Sacred Ibis

    The R?union Sacred Ibis or R?union Flightless Ibis , is an extinct birds species that was native to the island of R?union. It is probably the same bird discovered by Portugal sailors there in 1613 and until recently assumed by biologists to be a member of the solitaire family and called the "R?union Solitaire" , classified as a...
     (extinct)


Gruiformes (Cranes, Rails)

  • Cuban Flightless Crane (extinct)
  • Red Rail
    Red Rail

    The Red Rail or Red Hen of Mauritius, Aphanapteryx bonasia, is an extinct Rallidae. It was only found on the island of Mauritius. The Red Rail, which today is only known from a large number of bones, some descriptions and a handful of drawings and paintings, was a flightless bird, somewhat larger than a chicken ....
     (extinct)
  • Rodrigues Rail
    Rodrigues Rail

    The Rodrigues Rail or Leguat's Gelinote is an extinct bird named after the learned traveller Fran?ois Leguat, who came with a band of Huguenot religious refugees to Rodrigues in 1691 and stayed there for three years....
     (extinct)
  • Woodford's Rail
    Woodford's Rail

    The Woodford's Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family. It is found in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, rivers, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, and rural gardens....
     (probably flightless)
  • Bar-winged Rail
    Bar-winged Rail

    The Bar-winged Rail was a species of bird in the Rallidae family.It was Endemism to Fiji and was last collected ca 1890 in Viti Levu. The species was idenitifed from twelve 19th century specimens, some of which are known to be in Boston, London and New York....
     (extinct, probably flightless)
  • Weka
    Weka

    The Weka or woodhen is a flightless bird species of the rallidae family . It is Endemism in birds to New Zealand, where four subspecies are recognized....
  • New Caledonian Rail
    New Caledonian Rail

    The New Caledonian Rail is a large and drab flightless rail that is found on the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific. It is a dull brown above, with grey underparts, and has a yellowish, downward-curving bill....
  • Lord Howe Woodhen
    Lord Howe Woodhen

    The Lord Howe Woodhen, Gallirallus sylvestris, also known as the Lord Howe Island Woodhen or Lord Howe Rail, is a flightless bird of the Rallidae family ....
  • Calayan Rail
    Calayan Rail

    The Calayan Rail is a flightless bird of the Rallidae that inhabits Calayan Island in the Philippines. Though well-known to natives of the island as the "piding", it was first observed by ornithologist Carmela Espa?ola in May 2004 and the discovery officially announced on August 16, 2004....
  • New Britain Rail
    New Britain Rail

    The New Britain Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family.It is Endemism to Papua New Guinea....
  • Guam Rail
    Guam Rail

    The Guam Rail, Gallirallus owstoni, is a flightless bird, endemic to Guam. The Guam Rail, which is locally known as the Ko'ko' in Chamorro language, disappeared from southern Guam in the early 1970s and was extirpated from the entire island by the late 1980s....
  • Roviana Rail
    Roviana Rail

    The Roviana Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family.It is Endemism to Solomon Islands.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and plantations ....
     ("flightless, or nearly so" [Taylor 1998])
  • Tahiti Rail (extinct)
  • Dieffenbach's Rail
    Dieffenbach's Rail

    The Dieffenbach's Rail was a species of bird in the Rallidae family. It was endemism to New Zealand. It became extinct due to introduced predators....
     (extinct)
  • Chatham Rail
    Chatham Rail

    The Chatham Rail is an extinct species of bird in the Rallidae family. It was Endemism to New Zealand.It became extinct around the year 1900 due to introduced predators....
     (extinct)
  • Wake Island Rail
    Wake Island Rail

    The Extinction Wake Island Rail was a flightless Rallidae and the only native land bird on the Pacific Ocean atoll of Wake Island. It was found on the islands of Wake and Wilkes, but not on Peale, which is separated from the others by a channel of about 100 meters....
     (extinct)
  • Snoring Rail
    Snoring Rail

    The Snoring Rail, Aramidopsis plateni also known as Celebes Rail or Platen's Rail is a medium-sized, approximately 30cm long, flightless Rallidae....
  • Inaccessible Island Rail
    Inaccessible Island Rail

    The Inaccessible Island Rail, Atlantisia rogersi, is a small bird of the rail family, Rallidae. It is found only on Inaccessible Island in the Tristan da Cunha, and is notable for being the smallest extant flightless bird in the world....
  • Laysan Rail
    Laysan Rail

    The Laysan Rail or Laysan Crake was a tiny inhabitant of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species, including the rail....
     (extinct)
  • Hawaiian Rail
    Hawaiian Rail

    The Hawaiian Rail , Hawaiian Spotted Rail, or Hawaiian Crake was a somewhat enigmatic species of diminutive Rallidae that lived on Hawaii , Hawai?i, but is now extinct....
     (extinct)
  • Kosrae Island Crake
    Kosrae Island Crake

    The Kosrae Island Crake or Kusaie Island Crake , sometimes also stated as Kittlitz's Rail, is an extinct bird from the family Rallidae....
     (extinct)
  • Henderson Island Crake
  • Invisible Rail
    Invisible Rail

    The Invisible Rail, Habroptila wallacii also known as Wallace's Rail or Drummer Rail is a large, up to 35cm long, flightless Rallidae....
  • New Guinea Flightless Rail
    New Guinea Flightless Rail

    The New Guinea Flightless Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family, in the monotypic genus Megacrex.It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea....
  • Lord Howe Swamphen
    Lord Howe Swamphen

    The Lord Howe Swamphen or White Gallinule, Porphyrio albus, was a large bird in the family Rallidae endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia....
     (extinct, probably flightless)
  • North Island Takahe
    North Island Takahe

    The North Island Takahe or Moho, Porphyrio mantelli, is an extinct Rallidae that was found in the North Island of New Zealand. This flightless species is known from subfossils from a number of archeological sites and from one possible 1894 record ....
     (extinct)
  • Takahe
    Takahe

    The Takahe or South Island Takahe, Porphyrio hochstetteri is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the Rallidae....
  • Samoan Wood Rail
    Samoan Wood Rail

    The Samoan Wood Rail , also known as Samoan Moorhen, is a nearly flightless rail endemic to the Samoan island of Savai'i, and probably Extinction....
  • Makira Wood Rail
  • Tristan Moorhen
    Tristan Moorhen

    The Tristan Moorhen is an extinct flightless rail from the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. It was physically similar to the Gough Island Moorhen of Gough Island, located 395 miles to the southeast....
     (extinct)
  • Gough Island Moorhen
    Gough Island Moorhen

    The Gough Island Moorhen, Gallinula comeri, is a medium-sized, almost flightless bird that is similar to the Common Moorhen , but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings....
  • Adzebill
    Adzebill

    The adzebills were two closely related bird species, the North Island Adzebill, Aptornis otidiformis, and the South Island Adzebill, Aptornis defossor, of the extinct family Aptornithidae....
    s (extinct)
  • Kagu
    KAGU

    KAGU is a classical music radio station run by Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. They broadcast at 88.7 MHz on the FM dial....
  • Tasmanian Native-hen
    Tasmanian Native-hen

    The Tasmanian Native-hen is a flightless water hen, one of twelve species of birds endemism to Tasmania. Many flightless birds have a sad history of extinction at the hands of man....


Charadriiformes (Gulls, Terns, Auks)

  • Great Auk
    Great Auk

    The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Razorbill, is a bird that became Extinction in the mid-19th century. It was the only species in the genus Pinguinus, a group which included several flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until modern times....
     (extinct)
  • Diving Puffin (extinct)


Psittaciformes (Parrots)

  • Kakapo
    Kakapo

    The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila, also called owl parrot, is a species of Nocturnal animal parrot Endemism in birds to New Zealand. It has finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc of sensory, vibrissa feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large feet, and wings and a tail of relatively short length....
  • Broad-billed Parrot
    Broad-billed Parrot

    The Broad-billed Parrot was a parrot endemic to the island of Mauritius that became extinct....
     (extinct)


Columbiformes (Pigeons, Doves)

  • Dodo
    Dodo

    The dodo was a flightless bird Endemism to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to Columbidae, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit and nesting on the ground....
     (extinct)
  • Rodrigues Solitaire
    Rodrigues Solitaire

    The Rodrigues Solitaire was a flightless member of the pigeon order endemism to Rodrigues , Mauritius. It was a close relative of the Dodo.It was first recorded by Fran?ois Leguat, the leader of a group of France Huguenot refugees who colonised the island from 1691 to 1693....
     (extinct)
  • Viti Levu Giant Pigeon
    Viti Levu Giant Pigeon

    The Viti Levu Giant Pigeon was a flightless pigeon, only slightly smaller than the dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire .The monotypic genus Natunaornis is named after Natuna, the oldest Tribal chief of the Volivoli people in the Sigatoka Valley, wherein the fossil bones of the type species were first found....
     (extinct)


Caprimulgiformes (Nightjars)

  • New Zealand Owlet-nightjar
    New Zealand Owlet-nightjar

    The New Zealand Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles novazelandiae, was a large species of owlet-nightjar formerly endemic to the islands of New Zealand....
     (extinct)


Passeriformes (Perching Birds)

  • Stephens Island Wren
    Stephens Island Wren

    The Stephens Island Wren is famous for being considered the only known species to be entirely wiped out by a single living being. This bird was a flightless, nocturnal native of Stephens Island, New Zealand, New Zealand, which fed on insects....
     (extinct)


See also

  • Ratite
    Ratite

    A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum - hence their name which comes from the Latin for raft....
  • Extinct birds
    Extinct birds

    Since 1500, over 190 species of birds have become extinct, and this rate of extinction seems to be increasing. The situation is exemplified by Hawaii, where 30% of all known recently extinct bird taxa originally lived....
  • Gastornis
    Gastornis

    Gastornis , formely Diatryma, is an extinct genus of large flightless bird that lived during the late Paleocene and Eocene periods of the Cenozoic....
  • Phorusrhacidae
    Phorusrhacidae

    Phorusrhacids , or terror birds, were a family of large carnivorous flightless birds that were the dominant predators in South America during the Cenozoic, 62?2 million years ago....
  • Dinosaur
    Dinosaur

    Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
    s
    • Feathered dinosaurs
      Feathered dinosaurs

      The realization that dinosaurs are closely related to birds raised the obvious possibility of feathered dinosaurs. Fossils of Archaeopteryx include well-preserved feathers, but it was not until the early 1990s that clearly nonavian dinosaur fossils were discovered with preserved feathers....
    • Origin of birds: Secondary flightlessness in dinosaurs


External links

  • in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand