Pelican cooling spine

Pelican cooling spine genus Pelecanus are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before swallowing. They have predominantly pale plumage, except for the brown and Peruvian pelicans. The bills, pouches, pelican cooling spine, and bare facial skin of all pelicans become brightly coloured before the breeding season.

There are more than half a dozen species of pelicans, but all of them have the famous throat pouch for which the birds are best known. These large birds use their elastic pouches to catch fish—though different species use it in different ways. Many pelicans fish by swimming in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a "U" shape and drive fish into shallow water by beating their wings on the surface. When fish congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop them up. The brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish usually a type of herring called menhaden from above and snares them in its bill. Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately.

Pelican cooling spine

Beating the summer heat is not a big deal for humans. We can keep our bodies cool with a physical air conditioner or switch on an internal one — human sweat. But for some of our furry and feathered friends, cooling down by expressing water through the skin and allowing it to evaporate isn't at all possible. For birds like pelicans, cooling down involves a rather disturbing contortion, a meme claims. Below the meme's text is a grid with three pictures of birds with a bulge in their large beaks, then a fourth image that seems to anatomically explain how the process works. Fact check: Ice cubes are safe for dogs, contrary to alarmist social media claims. The post and similar ones shared to Facebook and Instagram have gained over 70, likes, shares and comments in recent months, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool. Birds do sweat in their own way, but it doesn't involve any sort of spinal rearrangement, experts say. The birds depicted in the meme are not all pelicans — one is a shoebill , similar to pelicans — and they're not cooling down either, said Sharon Stiteler , a National Park ranger and bird expert. Stiteler said all birds yawn. How big, or often, they yawn can depend on how vulnerable a bird is to predators. Pelicans, being large and without many predators, can afford to be more leisurely in their yawning, compared to a smaller bird with many predators. The bulge seen during these big, leisurely yawns, is called glottis exposure. It involves the birds inverting the pouches beneath their long beaks over their necks and chest, said paleontologist Darren Naish. Fact check: 'Stuckie the Mummified Dog' is real, on display at Georgia museum.

The ground-nesting white species have a complex communal courtship involving a group of males chasing a single female in the air, on land, or in the water while pointing, gaping, and thrusting their bills at each other. Most species' populations are more or less stable, although three are classified by the IUCN as being at risk, pelican cooling spine.

The claim is accompanied by three pictures of birds with what appear to be their spines appearing to protrude out of their mouths, and an illustration of the process. Paleontologist Darren Naish added that the apparent appearance of the spine during these yawns is called glottis exposure, which involves the birds inverting the pouches beneath their beaks over their necks and chest. This helps bring the surrounding skin back into its normal position and is also related to hygiene, but is not connected to overheating. Furthermore, not all the birds are pelicans—the bird in the top left of the post is a shoebill. This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content— here. Bad information ruins lives.

Other examples of the claim circulated on social media here and here. Kaeli Swift, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, where she teaches about ornithology and wildlife ecology, debunked the claim in a video on her YouTube channel. The most typical way birds cool down is by doing something that's akin to panting. Sharon Stiteler , a park ranger who has written books about birds, said via direct message on Twitter: "One of those birds isn't even a pelican. The top left photo actually shows a type of stork called a shoebill , she said, "although the Internet likes to call it the Murder Stork. The way their body is shaped, their pouch under their beak stretches over their neck Once someone told me that pelicans pierce their own breast when they are starving so their chicks can feed on their blood. That is not true either.

Pelican cooling spine

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All articles. Pelicans are very large birds with very long bills characterised by a downcurved hook at the end of the upper mandible, and the attachment of a huge gular pouch to the lower. ISBN They are mature at three or four years old. Size : Length 1. The male brings the nesting material, in ground-nesting species which may not build a nest sometimes in the pouch, and in tree-nesting species crosswise in the bill. Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin, Retrieved 6 June — via oxfordreference. The bills, pouches, and bare facial skin of all pelicans become brightly coloured before the breeding season. The main ongoing threats include hunting, especially in eastern Asia, disturbance, coastal development, collision with overhead power lines, and the over-exploitation of fish stocks. PMC Colonies of tens or hundreds, rarely thousands, of birds breed regularly on small coastal and subcoastal islands where food is seasonally or permanently available.

Social media posts claim photos of pelicans show the birds taking their spines out of their mouths to cool down. But they are not capable of doing so; experts say that when the birds yawn, the pouch under their beak stretches over their neck, creating the strange visual seen in the images. Other examples of the claim circulated on social media here and here.

The American white pelican can hold some 3 gallons of water in its bill. The Condor. Pelicans have mainly light-coloured plumage, the exceptions being the brown and Peruvian pelicans. A screenshot of a Facebook post taken on March 15, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Retrieved 9 August LC [22]. Retrieved 13 June They are social birds and typically travel in flocks, often strung out in a line. A spot-billed pelican nesting colony at Uppalapadu , India: This species builds nests in trees.