During evolution, various creatures, depending on the lifestyle and structural features of the body, acquired a mouth of a certain shape, which is used daily to absorb food. And if creatures with a jaw its halves are simply called “upper” and “lower”, then what about birds and animals that have a beak? How to name the parts of such a device for absorbing food?

Beak Shapes

Creatures with a beak appeared hundreds of millions of years ago, and during this time led a different lifestyle. Because of this, they evolved in every possible way, changing their appearance, which allowed them to better adapt to environmental conditions. This beak was also not spared: it was used for certain purposes and acquired a unique shape.

Now distinguish the following types of beaks:

• predatory - has a sharp, bent down form, well suited for piercing the flesh and tearing pieces;
• water - a flat rough beak that allows you to grab a slippery fish;
• granivorous - small and flattened, helping to split hard fruits;
• insectivore - a long thin beak, which is convenient for catching small food on the fly;
• digging - curved, large, helps loosen the soil and find food in it.

At the moment, there are several dozen varieties of beak that are used by carriers for specific purposes. There are birds with a universal oral cavity.They can carry out various actions with it: to catch insects, break solid fruits, loosen the earth, etc. Such winged are often called omnivores.

What are the beak halves called?

Some may draw an analogy with the jaws and call the halves “upper and lower beak”, but they will be wrong. When describing the structure of birds and other creatures with a similar mouth shape, the terms "beak" and "beak" are used. Thanks to this, you can immediately understand which half is in question.

Interesting fact: In addition to birds, some animals are equipped with a beak. These include the platypus and the tortoise. A similar structure of the mouth has certain types of fish.

The word “jaw” is also sometimes used, but only in those cases when the structure of the skull is generally described, without emphasis on the beak.

The beak halves are called the "beak" and "beak". When it is required to describe the structure of a creature as a whole, the term “jaw” may be used with respect to the mouth opening.