Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Ratite |
RatiteNoun1. Flightless birds having flat breastbones lacking a keel for attachment of flight muscles: ostriches; cassowaries; emus; moas; rheas; kiwis; elephant birds. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Agriculture | A family of large flightless birds that include ostriches, emus, and rheas, which U.S. farmers are beginning to domesticate and raise for food. Ratite inspection has become a policy issue because producers want USDA to include them under the mandatory meat and poultry inspection laws. If plants that slaughter and process these birds were under mandatory inspection, most of the cost would be covered by taxpayers. Currently, such plants must pay for USDA inspection on a fee-for-service basis, under a voluntary ratite inspection program instituted in 1995 under authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The ratites are a group of flightless birds, most of which are now extinct. A number of features set them apart from other birds and provide support for their common origin. These include the absence of a keel on their breastbone, which in flying birds provides a strong anchor for their wing muscles, so ratites could not fly even if they developed suitable wings.
There are four extant groups of ratites. These may be treated as separate orders, in two orders, or as a single order Struthioniformes, as is followed here. The main groups then become suborders:
Extinct groups include the Dinornithidae or moas. The tinamous are also sometimes included here.
- Suborder Struthiones
- Family Struthionidae - ostriches
- Suborder Rheae
- Family Rheidae - rheass
- Suborder Casuarii
- Family Casuariidae - cassowaries
- Family Dromaiidae - emu
- Suborder Apteryges
- Family Apterygidae - kiwis
Ratites are found, or were found until fairly recently, in most parts of the former supercontinent Gondwana. It has been traditionally supposed that they evolved there during the Cretaceous period, and diverged from one another as the continents separated. However, DNA analysis suggests they diverged from one another more recently, and indicates that kiwis are closer to cassowaries than to recently extinct moas, though both kiwis and moas came from New Zealand and cassowaries from Australia and the islands to the north.
Most ratites are large birds. The largest bird known was Aepyornis, the 'elephant bird' of Madagascar, which could weigh up to 450 kilograms. These went extinct some time after humans arrived on the island, possibly surviving until the late 1600s. The African ostrich is the largest bird alive today, reaching up to 3 metres tall and weighing up to 135 kilograms. The smallest ratites are the kiwis, which are the size of chickens, shy, and almost blind.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ratite."
Synonyms: RatiteSynonyms: flightless bird (n), ratite bird (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: carinate (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Ratite |
| English words defined with "ratite": Apterygiformes ♦ Casuariiformes ♦ Dinornithiformes ♦ order Apterygiformes, order Casuariiformes, order Dinornithiformes, order Rheiformes, order Struthioniformes ♦ partridge ♦ Ratitae, Rheiformes ♦ Struthioniformes, superorder Ratitae ♦ tinamou. (references) |
Expression using "ratite": ratite bird. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
ratite | 20 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "ratite"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Turkish | karinasız kuş, karinasız. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Struthioniformes. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "ratite": ratites. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "ratite": zaratite. (additional references) | |
Words containing "ratite": zaratites. (additional references) | |
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"Ratite" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Artifex, artrite, atete, Attitb, irachta, kratitz, Rabita, Rabitah, ractise, radite, raita, raite, Rajit, rapiet, Rashit, ratido, Ratiken, ratine, ratit, ratitet, Ratte, Rattee, ratteen, Ratti, rattiken, Rattue, rectite, reptite, retit, retite, retitle, retute, ritite, Rohita, Rtitb, rudite. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "ratite" (pronounced 'Rat"ite'): Arkite, Arsenopyrite, Braunite, Bronzite, Brookite, Cabrerite, Chalcopyrite, Composite, Congenite, Cordite, Danite, gahnite, Gibbsite, Glassite, Gnathite, graphite, Hicksite, Hussite, jadeite, Linarite, Linnaeite, Lyddite, marlite, Melanochroite, Miascite, Moroxite, Nerite, Perthite, Petzite, Prehnite, Priceite, Protomerite, Pyrite, Quartzite, Scaphite, scheelite, Semite, Servite, sporozoite, Struvite, Turfite, Voltzite, Zincite, Zoisite. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: attire. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-r-t-t" | |
-1 letter: irate, retia, tater, terai, tetra, titer, titre, trait, treat, trite. | |
-2 letters: airt, rate, rite, tare, tart, tate, tear, teat, tier, tire, tret. | |
-3 letters: air, ait, are, art, ate, att, ear, eat, era, eta, ire, rat, rei, ret, ria, tae, tar, tat, tea, tet, tie. | |
-4 letters: ae, ai, ar, at, er, et, it, re, ta. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-r-t-t" | |
+1 letter: arietta, ariette, artiest, artiste, attired, attires, attrite, battier, biretta, cattier, citrate, fattier, intreat, iratest, iterant, iterate, nattier, nitrate, partite, ratites, rattier, striate, tastier, tattier, tertial, tertian, titrate. | |
+2 letters: admitter, aglitter, aigrette, amaretti, amoretti, ariettas, ariettes, aristate, artistes, artsiest, attainer, attrited, atwitter, batterie, birettas, birretta, brattice, brattier, chattier, citrated, citrates, cristate, detrital, feterita, filtrate, gnattier, hatteria, interact, intranet, intreats, irritate, iterated, iterates, laterite, literate, literati, martinet, mistreat, nitrated, nitrates, rattiest, reattain, remittal, retirant, rotative, scattier, straiten, straiter, striated, striates, tardiest, tarriest, teariest, teratism, teratoid, tertials, tertians, tertiary, tetracid, tetradic, theatric, titrable, titrated, titrates, toastier, tractile, tractive, treaties, treating, treatise, trifecta, triptane, tristate, tristeza, urticate, wartiest, ytterbia, zaratite. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Expressions 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.