Brown+Kookaburra+(Future)

=The Brown Kookaburra=
 * Archaeopteryx (Fossil Animal) || Lauging Kookaburra (Modern Animal) ||

In 150 million years later, the Kookaburra would have changed to adapt to its changing environment. The Kookaburra would now be widespread over Australia and the environment would be hotter due to global warming, and due to the increasing numbers of predators, the Kookaburra would be much darker in colour to camoflauge better in the trees, and so the new name //Brown Kookaburra (Dacelo Phaeus)// would be given. There would be slight changes to the Kookaburra's diet as well as some of its body structures. Global warming would also cause many of its prey to either become extinct or evolve to live in the water, so the Kookaburra would also have learnt to catch prey near water. The name Dacelo Phaeus means Brown kookaburra, which is a direct translation of the English name.


 * **Level** || **Classification** ||
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Aves ||
 * Order || Coraciiformes ||
 * Family || Halcyonidae ||
 * Genus || Dacelo ||
 * Species || D. Phaeus ||





**Adaptations**
The Brown Kookaburra would be skinnier in the body, which means they would be less fat and chubby, the relative size would also be slightly smaller (from approx. 46cm to 35cm), and their beaks would also be slightly smaller (from around 4 inches to 3 inches). This adaptation would help them fly faster from predators as they would be lighter, and scince they are smaller, it would be easier to hide from predators, as it would be harder to spot them in the large trees.
 * Structural Adaptation One**

The modern Kookaburra uses its brownish feathers to hide from predators and prey, but because their preators would also have improved eyesight, the Kookaburra would have to develop browner feathers on other parts of the body to camoflauge better in trees. The Brown Kookaburras would have no more blue on the wings and a darker tail, and the beak would also be dark brown on both top and bottom. The Kookaburras feet and head would also be browner to blend with the branches better.
 * Structural Adaptation Two**

The modern Kookaburra has been known to have weak legs but with sharp claws to handle prey, but because their prey has become smarter and has learnt to escape after being caught, so the Brown Kookaburra has developed sharper claws to handle prey better. The claws are now longer and sharper and this will allow the Brown Kookaburra to catch the prey even easier and even if the prey struggles, it will not escape that easily.
 * Structural Adaptation Three**

After 150 million years, the Kookaburras will be more widespread, and due to this distribution, the Kookaburras will have a lager territory and less Kookaburras in that area, so they will live in smaller groups. The groups will consist of around 10 to 15 Kookaburras and the size of their territory will depend on the size of the group, but it will be much larger compared to the area the modern Kookaburras have. Kookaburras will not always find the food they need and sometimes there may not be food for everyone, by living in smaller groups, the Kookaburras will have more resources to themselves, and so they wont fight over food that much.
 * Behavioural Adaptation One**

Over time, some of the Kookaburra's present prey will become extinct and the Kookaburras will need to find new prey, some of them will be nocturnal, such as the bilby, and to help them catch these nocturnal animals they will develop nocturnal eyesight. The Brown Kookaburra's eyes will be bigger, and so they will have a pupil that can open more widely when they are in places with low light. This adaptation will help them catch more light in the dark and therfore see more clearly to catch prey at night. There would also be predators such as the night dingo that may prey on them at night, so with its improved eyes, the Kookaburra can spot predators much faster and fly away.
 * Phisiologocal Adaptation One**

**Habitat**
In 150 million years, the kookaburra will be found all over Australia, though most will still live near the cities, people would also be more aware of the environment, so they would still be able to live arount the trees they do now, the main change would be in how they lived. . Scince Kookaburras would be spread over a larger area, they would all have more space and they would be more widespread, and this would lead to them living in small groups and sharing resources from a bigger area compared to where they live now. The Brown Kookaburra would eat small animals (e.g. snakes) and insects (e.g. dragonfly) like they do now, but because these animals would also develop certain things to prevent themselves being captured, the Brown Kookaburra would have to prey on other animals such as the bandicoot and bilby. Some of these animals are nocturnal, so the Brown Kookaburra has also developed eyes to see in the dark, in order to catch them easily. In the day, they have also developed more brown feathers on the wings which will also help them hide while waiting for prey. The Brown Kookaburra's prey would also be smarter as they would know how to escape when they are caught, so the Brown Kookaburra has developed sharper claws to handle prey better and so they don't escape.
 * [[image:map3.jpg width="432" height="288"]] ||
 * **Map 3: Distribution of the Brown Kookaburra**
 * Source (Photo Only):** []
 * (Distribution=Red area)** ||
 * Distribution**
 * [[image:Australia-Rainforest.jpg width="513" height="338"]] ||
 * **Image 2: Living Environment of the Brown Kookaburra**
 * Source:** Click Here ||
 * Prey/Diet**

The predators of the Brown Kookaburras would continue to be larger flying animals such as the eagle, but there would be increasing number of land predators, because they would become much stronger and faster over so many years, therefore they may be able to jump up to a Kookaburra sitting on a low area of a tree, and these land predators would mainly be snakes and night dingos. Though the Brown Kookaburra will eat small snakes, there are still larger snakes such as the [|Tiger snake]and Python that are predators of them. To adapt to these strong predators, the kookaburras have become less chubby so they can be lighter and fly faster. The Kookaburra also has more brown feathers to help them camoflauge better in the trees, this will make it harder for the predators to spot them.
 * Predators**

After many years, global warming would cause the the weather to become hotter, but as it can be seen in Map 3, Australia would move south so the weather would still be suitable for Kookaburras to live in. To adapt to this hot weather, the Kookaburra has become skinnier, which means that it would be harder for them to get hot, as there would be less fat. This adaptation would help them keep cool and therefore they would not die from heat like other large animals with thick fur.
 * Climate**

Extinction
Since the Kookaburra relied on other animals for food, the main reason for its extiction would be lack of food, and if global warming continues, they may also die from heat as they still have a layer of fur that traps heat. Global warming may also cause the rise of sea water, and because Australia is so close to Antarctica, the water may flood Australia, causing all animals to die.

**Bibliography**
//Latin Colour Word List//. (2002, November 15). Retrieved June 25, 2011, from http://www.coolschool.k12.or.us/courses/121510/lessons/assignments/13/13-4.latincolor.html Penny Press. (2010). //Earth 150my in Future//. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from History of the Universe: http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/cf150.html Scotese. (n.d.). //The Atlantic Ocean begins to Close//. Retrieved June 24, 2011, from Earth History: http://www.scotese.com/future1.htm