There are many opinions regarding the longevity of birds. Having asked how many crows and eagles live, you can often hear the answer read from A. S. Pushkin in "The Captain's Daughter". The Kalmyk tale that Pugachev tells Grinev tells about three hundred years of the life of a scavenger crow and thirty-three of an eagle drinking fresh blood.
According to ornithologists, crows and eagles live roughly the same - 80 years each. However, such statistics apply exclusively to life in captivity: without enemies, with a varied diet, without hungry seasons, not always with incubation of chicks. In the wild, eagles and ravens have a maximum age of 20 years. And yet, the tale of the longevity associated with carrion in the diet has a foundation. One of the longest lives in the avian world is the scavenger, the American turkey vulture, which lives up to 118 years in the wild.
Sources of information about bird life
Biologists use the results of observations in zoos and data from ornithological stations to provide information on the maximum age of birds. Specialists-ornithologists, ringing migratory birds and fixing the next migrations of marked individuals year after year, keep records that make it possible to determine the average life span of birds. And although there are so many opinions as there are observers, the average statistical indicators rarely differ.
The value of freedom in the form of free life is emphasized exclusively by a person who preserves the diversity of species of the planet's inhabitants created by nature. Captivity in the form of a cage or zoo aviary is a guarantee of peace and well-fed life with periodic supervision by a veterinarian. Human tutelage cancels the laws of natural selection, and birds break records, living for 10-20 avian centuries, released by them in the wild.
The most famous facts about the lifespan of birds
A relatively short life distinguishes birds of the order of chickens, or chickens, - hazel grouses, pheasants, black grouse, turkeys and others. On average, their "age" is about 14 years. Among the record holders are domestic chickens, occasionally crossing the 20-year threshold. Quails - an alternative to chickens for delivering eggs to the human table - live for 5-6 years. Representatives of the duck family - geese, ducks, swans, geese - also have a lot of chances to live up to 2 decades. Even in the wild, bird watchers have reported cases of 18-20-year-old mallard ducks.
A 70-year life expectancy in the zoo of a mute swan is noted by statistics. But in general, duck and chicken do not differ much in terms of age limit.
The existence of the birds of the American continent, the blue mosquito and hummingbird, is short-lived - 4 and 8 years, respectively. The age of a wild pigeon is short - 3-5 years, while birds live in dovecotes and open-air cages of zoos for 15 and even 30 years. Rooks live eight years, 9 - common swallow and snowy owl, whose appearance is known from Boucle, Harry Potter's postman. In captivity, such owls live up to 28 years. Owls in the same conditions can live for 60 years. Up to 24 years old, the singing favorites of man - canaries, live in cages.
House sparrows live extremely little - 3-5 years, and most of them die at 1 year of life. However, the maximum period under favorable circumstances is also fixed - 23 years.
The larger the bird, the higher its longevity potential. Emperor penguins, the largest flightless seabirds, live for up to 25 years. The rest of the penguin family is assigned from 7 to 20 years old. Emus and cassowaries live several years more in captivity - up to 40 years old, pink hummingbirds and cranes can "celebrate" this anniversary in freedom. Among African ostriches, there are 75-year-old specimens against the usual 40-year-old background. The flightless kiwi ratite birds, endemic to New Zealand, enjoy their flightless existence for 50-60 years. Parrots gray, cockatoo and red macaw often cross over half a century - this is also evidenced by observations of ornithologists.
