{"id":2189102,"date":"2025-11-17T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2189102"},"modified":"2025-11-16T09:47:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T08:47:34","slug":"36-extraordinary-astonishing-bird-facts-including-a-bird-that-has-killed-humans-a-bird-that-likes-to-get-drunk-and-one-that-can-fly-backwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/36-extraordinary-astonishing-bird-facts-including-a-bird-that-has-killed-humans-a-bird-that-likes-to-get-drunk-and-one-that-can-fly-backwards\/","title":{"rendered":"36 extraordinary, astonishing bird facts, including a bird that has killed humans, a bird that likes to get drunk and one that can fly backwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know flamingoes are pink on the inside as well as the outside? Or how about the wild bird that’s over 70 years old?<\/p>\n

And have you ever wondered why woodpeckers don’t get concussion from their never-ending pecking?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve rounded up some of the most extraordinary facts about birds and their fascinating world…..<\/p>\n

32 amazing facts about birds<\/h2>\n

1. It typically takes 20\u201360 minutes for birds to lay an egg, though there are exceptions says Mike Toms. Geese and turkeys take significantly longer, while many nest parasites are able to lay incredibly quickly. Cuckoos for example average just 10 seconds<\/p>\n

2. Emperor penguins can dive to depths of hundreds of metres. Penguins are able to dive so deep because of unique adaptions to their cardiovascular system. As they prepare to dive their heart starts to race and the penguin hyperventilates, which primes its muscles with oxygen. Then it dives in and does something, well, breathtaking: it cuts off the blood supply to its muscles to conserve dissolved oxygen for the rest of its body.<\/p>\n

3. Some birds, individuals and species, are monogamous and mate for life. Examples include mute swans, black vultures, albatrosses and puffins<\/p>\n

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Getty images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Flamingoes are pink on the inside as well as the outside. Their pinkness is caused by the presence of carotenoid pigments found in the algae and crustaceans that make up the diet of a flamingo. Though the pink coloration is most obvious in a flamingo\u2019s plumage, the carotenoids also impregnate the bird\u2019s tissues, skin, blood and even egg yolk.<\/p>\n

5. Humans are to blame for at least 600 bird extinctions \u2013 causing untold damage to ecosystems. Human interference in nature has not only caused the extinction of hundreds of bird species but has also caused fundamental changes in the roles that birds play in the global environment.<\/p>\n

6. The oldest wild bird in the world is widely thought to be the rather remarkable Laysan albatross known as Wisdom, who lives on the Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean and is now estimated to be in her early to mid seventies.<\/p>\n