The word incubate in the context of birds refers to the development of the chick (embryo) within the egg and the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. An embryo (from Greek:, plural, lit "that which grows" from en- "in" + bryein "to swell be full" is a multicellular In most Birds and Reptiles an egg ( Latin ovum) is the Zygote, resulting from Fertilization of the Ovum. In most species, body heat from the brooding parent provides the constant temperature, though several groups, notably the Megapodes, instead use geothermal heat or the heat generated from rotting vegetable material, effectively creating a giant compost heap. In Biology, a warm-blooded Animal species is one whose members maintain thermal Homeostasis; that is they keep their body temperature at a roughly constant The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky medium-large chicken-like Birds with small heads and large feet in the family The Namaqua Sandgrouse of the deserts of southern Africa, needing to keep its eggs cool during the heat of the day, stands over them drooping its wings to shade them. UserPolbot. -->The Namaqua Sandgrouse ( Pterocles namaqua) is a species of Bird in the Pteroclididae The humidity is also critical, and if the air is too dry the egg will lose too much water to the atmosphere, which can make it difficult or impossible for hatching. An egg will normally become lighter and the air space within the egg will normally become larger as incubation precedes owing to evaporation from the egg.

In the species that incubate, the work is divided differently between the sexes. Possibly the most common pattern is that the female does all the incubation, as in the Coscoroba Swan and the Indian Robin, or most of it, as is typical of falcons. The Coscoroba Swan, Coscoroba coscoroba is the smallest Species of Swan. The Indian Robin ( Saxicoloides fulicatus) is a species of Bird in the Muscicapidae family A falcon (fɔlkən or fælkən is any Species of raptor in the Genus Falco. In some species, such as the Whooping Crane, the male and the female take turns incubating the egg. The Whooping Crane ( Grus americana) the tallest North American bird is an Endangered crane species named for its whooping sound and call In others, such as the cassowaries, only the male incubates. Cassowaries ( Genus Casuarius) are very large flightless Birds native to the Tropical forests of New Guinea and The male Mountain Plover incubates the female's first clutch, but if she lays a second, she incubates it herself. The Mountain Plover ( Charadrius montanus) is a medium-sized ground bird in the Plover family ( Charadriidae) In Hoatzins, some birds (mostly males) help their parents incubate later broods. The Hoatzin ( Opisthocomus hoazin) also known as the Hoactzin, Stinkbird, or Canje "Pheasant", is an unusual species

Incubation times range from 11 days (some small passerines and the Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos) to 85 days (the Wandering Albatross and the Brown Kiwi). The Black-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus erythropthalmus, is a Cuckoo. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, is a Cuckoo. Common folk-names for this bird in the southern United States are Rain Crow and Storm The Wandering Albatross ( Diomedea exulans) is a large Seabird from the family Diomedeidae which has a circumpolar range in the Southern The North Island Brown Kiwi, Apteryx mantelli or Apteryx australis before 2000 (and still in some sources is a species of Kiwi that is widespread In these latter, the incubation is interrupted; the longest uninterrupted period is 64 to 67 days in the Emperor Penguin. The Emperor Penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living Penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. ^[1] It can be an energetically demanding process, with adult albatrosses losing as much as 83 g of body weight a day. ^[1]

Some species begin incubation with the first egg, causing the young to hatch at different times; others begin after laying the second egg, so that the third chick will be smaller and more vulnerable to food shortages. Some start to incubate after the last egg of the clutch, causing the young to hatch simultaneously.

Derived meanings

Climate-controlled incubators are utilized in industrial agricultural settings and in neonatal care, especially of human infants. The life expectancy for premature infants has increased dramatically thanks to incubation.

References

• Christopher Perrins (editor), Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds, ISBN 1-55297-777-3

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic