An aviary can be a collection of birds or a cage intended for confinement of these animals.
The Latin word aviarius came to Spanish as aviary . It is a term that can be used as an adjective or as a noun .
In the first case, aviary is synonymous with avian . Both concepts are used to describe what is linked to birds : vertebrate animals that lay eggs, breathe through lungs, have feathers that cover their body, have a horny beak and have wings.
bird flu
Avian influenza or bird flu is an infectious disease that mainly affects birds, although it can also spread to other species (including humans ). The infection is caused by different classes of viruses from the Influenzavirus A group.
Avian flu was detected at the end of the 19th century in Italian territory. While wild waterfowl show great resistance to the disease , domestic poultry birds show vulnerability.
In 2009, a pandemic broke out caused by a variant of the H1N1 subtype of Influenzavirus A. It is believed that this variant arose from the combination of genetic material from two swine strains, a human strain and an avian strain. Due to the mutation, contagion occurred between species, passing from the pig to humans and then promoting infections from person to person.
The aviary as a collection
As a noun, the idea of aviary can be used to name a collection of birds . The specimens, which can be stuffed or live, are arranged to facilitate their study or to display them.
Take the case of the National Aviary of Colombia . It is a collection exhibited in natural environments that seeks to disseminate Colombian diversity and promote its conservation .
The National Aviary of Colombia , located on Barú Island ( Cartagena de Indias ), is made up of about 1,700 specimens that belong to 170 species . In total it presents twenty-two exhibits distributed over seven hectares.
Aviaries may contain toucans.
The Bird Place , meanwhile, is the aviary of the Temaikèn biopark, located in the Buenos Aires town of Escobar ( Argentina ). More than 2,500 specimens live in five areas that occupy three hectares.
El Nido , on the other hand, is a Mexican aviary where more than two hundred species live, many of which are in danger of extinction. It is developed on a seven-hectare plot of land located in the municipality of Ixtapaluca .
A bird cage
The cage used to confine the birds is also called an aviary. They are generally large enough for animals to fly.
Sometimes aviaries try to reproduce the natural habitat. So they include plants inside.
Aviaries can be found in zoos , parks and other similar spaces. At home or domestic level, many people build their own aviaries for raising domestic birds. There are also companies that sell aviaries that can be located outdoors or inside a building.
Beyond the characteristics of aviaries, there are those who maintain that a bird should never be locked in a cage, regardless of the size of the structure. That is why it is often claimed that these creatures can live in freedom .