Taxa

Aves

Class

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Aves." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-aves.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Aves. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-aves

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-aves,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Aves},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/class-aves},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates that lay hard-shelled eggs, with forelimbs modified into wings and, in the great majority of species, the capacity for powered flight. Aves is now understood by paleontologists to be the one surviving lineage of dinosaurs, directly descended from small feathered theropods.

Facts

Disputed

Member Species/Taxa Count

11,000 1

Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.

Taxonomic Rank

Class 1

Scientific Name

Aves 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Child Taxon Of

Parent Taxon Of

View At A Past Year