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Sea Urchin Birds
Sea Urchin Birds (purpuratus domesticus) are small, birds in the class Aves. They are found in many of the world's ocean's and many small bays along England's shore line. They are usually about 512 inches (14 centimeters) long, about the size of an average house sparrow.

These peculiar birds obtain their name from their egg laying procedures. In order to protect their eggs from predators they dive deep down in to the ocean depths and find a well protected sea urchin. They then commence the egg hatching. You may be wondering how a 14 centimeter bird lays its eggs in a three to ten centimeter sea urchin. First the bird takes its talons and plunges them in to the urchins spiny side and pulls it off of its rocky ledge. This is no easy task, since it must conquer its strong willed tube feet stuck hard on to the surface. Sometimes it takes more than a few tries but it is well worth it in the end to know that the eggs are safe. After the bird has successfully taken the sea urchin off its position it assumes the hatching position and puts its anus near the sea urchin's mouth-like structure and commences the egg laying. The S.U.B. (Sea Urchin Bird) then pushes the eggs further into the sea urchin to obtain maximum protection, and maneuvers the sea urchin back on to its ledge. The eggs will remain there until it is time for them to hatch. As they hatch they rip open the sea urchins innards and flee to the surface to gain their first glance at the sun and try their new wings. Since there have been few sightings of this rare bird, many believe that they are only seen when nature is intertwined with human life. In this case, High School lab dissections. There have been many cases in which students have stopped to look at the beak like protrusion coming from the sea urchins mouth, then as they cut about the sea urchins side a bird comes flying out and escapes into the class room. * Kingdom: Animalia * Phylum: Chordia * Class: Aves * Order: Charadriiformes

Anatomy of a Sea Urchin Bird

The Sea urchin birds are around 13-15cm in length from beak to tail, and are built similarly to the House sparrow. They are Purple in color due to the purple juices from the sea urchins innards that dye their feathers when they are still in the hatching process. The eyes of a S.U.B are a bright red color or a color that is similar to cataracts in dogs, a smoky green. Its legs are light blue or also purple matching its dyed feathers. The external structures of the beak are similar to many small species of bird we see today, but the internal structures are far more complex. It has several rows of teeth to chew at small species of lizards and even some squirrels. The squirrel is commonly found in the same habitat as the S.U.B. and at times they have to fight for territory. The adult S.U.B. lives on land and only goes to the sea to lay its eggs. The S.U.B. is one of the only species to which there is no difference between the male and female. They appear to be one sex all together.

Diet

The S.U.B.'s feed mainly upon bugs and lizards but occasionally are found to prey on house animals such as a small poodles, or cats.

Uses

In history the S.U.B. has played a very important role, epically in small tribes along the coast of South Africa. The tribes there praised the bird as a god and would dive deep down to find sea Urchins that the bird god had laid its eggs in and collect them to make a purple war dye. The romans are also noted to have used the purple dye. It is a common misconception that a sea snail made the purple dye that was a symbol of wealth and power in ancient times in places such as Rome and Egypt, but it was really the Sea urchin bird that made this dye. Cleopatra had the sails on her ships painted purple and Rome's emperor Nero would only wear the finest Purple textiles. These were all made from the sea Urchin Birds purple dye.