Local animals in this group:
coots and rails
Rallidae
This family of birds includes 142 species of coots and rails that can be found all over the world. Though they live mostly in marshes and other aquatic habitats, birds in this family do not have webbed feet. They have fairly long toes. The phrase "thin as a rail" comes from the fact that these birds are rather skinny when viewed from the front. Some rail species live on islands without predators and have lost the ability to fly. The American coot is a very common member of this family.
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. "Rallidae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed May 20, 2024 at http://localhost:2015/accounts/Rallidae/BioKIDS is sponsored in part by the Interagency
Education Research Initiative. It is a partnership of the University of Michigan School
of Education, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, and the Detroit
Public Schools. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation under Grant DRL-0628151.
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