Various bird attributes, real or imagined, have led to their symbolic use in language as in art. Aesop’s fables abound in bird characters. The Physiologus and its descendants, the bestiaries of the Middle Ages, contain moralistic writings that use birds as symbols for conveying ideas but indicate little knowledge of the birds themselves. Supernatural beliefs about birds probably took hold as early as recognition of the fact that some birds were good to eat. Australian Aborigines, for example, drove the black-and-white flycatcher from camp, lest it overhear conversation and carry the tales to enemies.

Since earliest times birds have been not only a material but also a cultural resource. Bird figures were created by prehistoric humans in the Lascaux Grotto of France and have featured prominently in the mythology and literature of societies throughout the world. Long before ornithology was practiced as a science, interest in birds and the knowledge of them found expression in conversation and stories, which then crystallized into the records of general culture. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and paintings, for example, include bird figures. The Bible refers to Noah’s use of the raven and dove to bring him information about the proverbial Flood.

I hate to break it to you, but birds are real.


BIRDS ARE NOT REAL - THEORY DEBUNKED

Birds are warm-blooded vertebrates more related to reptiles than to mammals and that they have a four-chambered heart (as do mammals), forelimbs modified into wings (a trait shared with bats), a hard-shelled egg, and keen vision, the major sense they rely on for information about the environment. Their sense of smell is not highly developed, and auditory range is limited. Most birds are diurnal in habit. More than 1,000 extinct species have been identified from fossil remains.