Great Wulluweid By Hyrotrioskjan Watch

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Since so many asked for it: yes, there are even larger species. Actually some of these guys walking slowly through fog in the rising sun was the first picture of them that crossed my minds. Large fluffy columns moving gently between some large trees, the bottom part of their bodies hidden in the dusk.



While both species are called 'Wulluweid' they actually form not a monophylethic group but represent the largest members of two sub families.

Austroatlas lives in inland savannas and open woodlands, always aiming for the highest branches and finest leaves. Here you see a 1 year old juvenile and an egg right beside an adult. Females lay up to 30 off them in dense forests where the male guards them (keeping all of them on his feet would be tricky). The babies follow their father after hatching and together they return to the females in the open woodlands. The babies are much more mobile than the adult individuals, especially during their first 6 month. Until an age of 2 years their diet is pretty diverse, beside leaves they also eat fruits, nuts, invertebrates sometimes small vertebrates or even carrion. This provides them with enough proteins for their rapid growth.





P.s. the cloaca of these animals isn't only facing forward because they can defend themselves this way, but it has become very difficult for the males to mate with the females, so instead they are now face to face while copulating.



P.p.s while it seems unlikely it actually is possible for adult animals to stand up after falling over, but when being fully grown they never come down to earth on purpose again.



P.p.p.s. This group of birds evolved during a time in which the climate on earth will be similar to the Paleocene-Eocene temperature maximum. like in the past such a event had a huge impact on the flora and fauna which was one reason that the more flexible species evolved in the first place and prepared them for the shrinking of the inland sea.

Like in the past the high temperatures also shrank the size of many land animals, megaherbivores and many carnivores disappeared, making way for new, unexpected forms.

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Published : Dec 20, 2016