biology

Threskiornis

Threskiornis is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Threskiornis rather than just read about it. In short: Threskiornis (from Ancient Greek θρῆσκος (thrêskos), meaning "devout", and ὄρνις (órnis), meaning "bird") is a genus of ibises, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae. They occur in the warmer parts of the Old World in southern Asia, Australasia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Key takeaways

Threskiornis belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Threskiornis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Threskiornis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Threskiornis (from Ancient Greek θρῆσκος (thrêskos), meaning "devout", and ὄρνις (órnis), meaning "bird") is a genus of ibises, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae. They occur in the warmer parts of the Old World in southern Asia, Australasia and Sub-Saharan Africa. They are colonial breeders, which build a stick nest in a tree or bush and lay two to four eggs. They occur in marshy wetlands and feed on various fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects. In English, they are called sacred ibises. In Australia, urban-dwelling ibises are known colloquially as "bin chickens".

Description Adult Threskiornis ibises are typically 75 cm long and have white body plumage. The bald head, neck and legs are black. The bill is thick and curved. Sexes are similar, but juveniles have whiter necks duller plumage. The straw-necked ibis differs from the other species in having dark upperparts, and is some times placed in the separate genus Carphibis (Jameson, 1835) as Carphibis spinicollis. A flightless species, the Reunion ibis, became extinct in the 18th century.

Species

References

Lowe, Kim W. & Richards, Geraldine C. (1991). "Morphological variation in the Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus superspecies complex". Emu. 91 (1): 41–45. Bibcode:1991EmuAO..91...41L. doi:10.1071/MU9910041.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Threskiornis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Threskiornis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Threskiornis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Threskiornis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Threskiornis

In research: Threskiornis appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Threskiornis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Threskiornis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird genera, Ibises, Taxa named by George Robert Gray, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Threskiornis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Threskiornis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Threskiornis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Threskiornis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Threskiornis in simple terms?

Why does Threskiornis matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Threskiornis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Threskiornis.