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Booby

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                  iBoobies
   Red-footed Booby, Sula sula
   Red-footed Booby, Sula sula
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Pelecaniformes
   Family:  Sulidae
   Genus:   Papasula
            Olsen & Warhett, 1988
   Genus:   Sula
            Brisson, 1760

                                   Species

     * Papasula abbotti

     * Sula nebouxii
     * Sula variegata
     * Sula dactylatra
     * Sula granti
     * Sula sula
     * Sula leucogaster

   For fossil species, see text

   The boobies are part of the family Sulidae, a group of seabirds closely
   related to gannets.

   The boobies are large birds with long pointed wings and long bills.
   They hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their
   prey underwater. They have facial air sacs under their skin which
   cushion the impact with the water.

   These are colonial breeders on islands and coasts, which normally lay
   one or more chalky blue eggs on the ground or sometimes in a tree nest.
   Their name is possibly based on the Spanish slang term bubi, meaning "
   dunce", as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing
   ships where they were easily captured and eaten.

   Owing to this, boobies are often mentioned to have been caught and
   eaten by shipwrecked sailors, notably Captain Bligh of HMAV Bounty and
   his loyalists during their famous voyage after being set adrift by
   Fletcher Christian and his mutineers.

Systematics and evolution

   Five of the six extant booby species are in the genus Sula, with the
   sixth recently given its own genus Papasula, while the three gannets
   are usually treated in the genus Morus; some authorities consider that
   all nine species should be considered congeneric, in Sula. However,
   they are readily told apart by means of osteology, and the distinct
   lineages of gannets and boobies are known to have existed in such form
   for at least 3 million years.

   The fossil record of boobies is not as well documented as that of
   gannets; possible reasons could be that booby species were less
   numerous in the late Miocene to Pliocene when gannets had their highest
   diversity, or that due to the more tropical distribution of boobies,
   many fossil species have simply not been found yet as most localities
   are in continental North America or Europe.

   Genus Papasula
     * Abbott's Booby Papasula abbotti

   Genus Sula
     * Blue-footed Booby Sula nebouxii
     * Peruvian Booby Sula variegata
     * Masked Booby Sula dactylatra
          + Tasman Booby, Sula (dactylatra) tasmani (possibly extinct)
     * Nazca Booby, Sula granti (formerly S. dactylatra granti)
     * Red-footed Booby Sula sula
     * Brown Booby Sula leucogaster

     * Sula pygmaea (fossil; Early Miocene of France)
     * Sula humeralis (fossil; Middle Pliocene)
     * Sula avita (fossil; formerly believed to be a gannet)
     * Sula magna (fossil)
     * Sula sulita (fossil)

   Booby chick
   Enlarge
   Booby chick
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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