Also in Animals
& Plants:
Mammals
Reptiles
Insects and Spiders
Fish and Amphibians
Plants
Birds
Birds are the most easily recognised group of animals. Their feathers
and hard horny beak make them easy to identify although they do come in
many different sizes shapes and colours.
HUMMINGBIRDS, SUNBIRDS AND HONEYCREEPERS
Well believe it or not these tiny nectar feeders are the most aggressive
animals on the planet! In fact if they were the same size as a crow it
wouldn't be safe to leave our houses! But thankfully (for us) their aggression
is directed not at humans but at each other as they are very territorial
and will not allow a strange bird near their nest sites. Because of this
it has taken many years of careful introductions to build up our group
of birds and we have even managed to establish some pairs in our free
flying sections so be sure to try and spot them!
PENGUINS
Well what can we say about these flightless birds that hasn't already
been said? Not a 
lot
but as they all have individual characters just like us it's fun to try
to tell them apart and watch them swimming and playing! In fact our African
Black-footed Penguins were all given new names when they arrived here,
we just couldn't live with the ones they already had: Amanda, Posh and
Louise......and that was the boys!!
SOFTBILLS
This may sound like an unusual name for a family of birds but it doesn't
mean they have 'Soft' beaks. It actually refers to the type of food they
eat! Birds in the Softbill family don't eat hard seeds they prefer soft
fruits and insects hence the name! This is a very large family and contains
birds of all shapes, sizes and colours including Turacos from Africa.
These rainforest birds are very brightly coloured fruit eaters and our
4 species include the endangered Red Crested Turaco. Some of them are
very tame and love to come down close to our visitors; sometimes you have
to wonder who is looking at who!
RARE
AND UNUSUAL
Flamingos are a popular sight in any zoo but did you know that they get
their pink colouring from the shrimps they eat in the wild? We have to
feed ours specially formulated food with added colour; otherwise we would
have WHITE Flamingo!.
Whilst you are watching our Flamingos you will see other wading birds
living with them, including the Jacana or Lilly Trotter. This bird has
extremely long toes to help spread its body weight over Lilly leaves.
This is so it can walk over them in search of food without sinking! Other
unusual birds include our Guira Cuckoos, these strange looking birds have
not needed to evolve much in thousands of years and still have wing claws
that can be seen on the fossilised remains of prehistoric birds!
Also in Birds:
Parrots | Toucans
| Birds of Prey and Owls
Hummingbirds, Sunbirds & Honeycreepers
Penguins | Softbills | Rare and unusual
Amazon World Zoo Park Watery Lane, Nr Arreton, Isle of Wight PO36 0LX
Tel: 01983 867122 Fax: 01983 868560 Email: info@amazonworld.co.uk