Sneaking in under the wire before asks get closed to profess my love for my favorite critter on earth and that's BIRDS BABY
Guys got wings and flight (mostly) and FEATHERS? birds baby! Little beaks and little feet and nests?? ALL BIRDS BABY
Went to college for six years to study these fuckers (affectionate) (well the whole six years wasnt birds, the first three were Denial and Failing Chemistry More Than Once), and now I'm studying birds and I'm an avid birder and I love them more than potentially most other things
my current favorite is the belted kingfisher in case anyone was curious (you weren't but you should google him anyway they're perfect) and a close second is literally any of the nightjar/goatsucker family (pennant winged nightjar anyone?? literally PERFECT BEING)
anyway sorry for all the yelling im a little overtired and want all my babies to migrate home safe as the weather warms up
so all of this bird-flavored ranting to a captive audience to say: I am DETERMINED to be the first bird detected on this page
🐦⬛
String identified:
ag t a gt c t at ctt at a tat' A
G gt g a gt (t) a AT? a! tt a a tt t a t?? A A
t t cg a t t t c (actat) ( t a at , t t t a a ag Ct Ta c), a ' tg a ' a a a t ta tta t t tg
ct at t t g ca a a c ( 't t gg aa t' ct) a a c c ta a t gta/gatc a (at g gta a?? ta CT G)
aa a t g a tt t a at a a t gat a a t at a
a t -a atg t a cat ac t a: a T t t t tct t ag
Closest match: Gerris lacustris genome assembly, chromosome: 9
Common name: Common pond skater
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Why aren't ostriches kosher? A case-study for Kashrut laws
Unlike mammals and fish, the Torah does not provide a list of signs that identify a bird as kosher or non-kosher. Instead, it provides a list of non-kosher birds in Leviticus 11:13-19, and they are:
נֶּ֙שֶׁר֙- Eagle
פֶּ֔רֶס- Vulture (or Kite)
עׇזְנִיָּֽה- Black vulture (or Osprey)
דָּאָ֔ה- Kite (or Kestrel)
אַיָּ֖ה לְמִינָֽהּ- Falcon (or Vulture) of every variety
כׇּל־עֹרֵ֖ב לְמִינֽוֹ- All varieties of Raven
בַּ֣ת הַֽיַּעֲנָ֔ה- Ostrich
תַּחְמָ֖ס- Nighthawk (or Jay, or Goatsucker, or some species of Owl)
שָּׁ֑חַף- Gull (or Sparrow hawk)
נֵּ֖ץ לְמִינֵֽהוּ- Hawks of every variety
כּ֥וֹס- Little owl (or just Owl)
שָּׁלָ֖ךְ- Cormorant (or Gull)
יַּנְשֽׁוּף- Great owl
תִּנְשֶׁ֥מֶת- White owl
קָּאָ֖ת- Pelican (or Starling)
רָחָֽם- Bustard (or Magpie)
חֲסִידָ֔ה- Stork
אֲנָפָ֖ה לְמִינָ֑הּ- Herons of every variety
דּוּכִיפַ֖ת- Hoopoe
עֲטַלֵּֽף- Bat
The Torah repeats this list in Deuteronomy 14:11-18. As you can see, most of the species on this list are uncertain in translation (which is why I offered alternate translations), although you can see the general idea. But, we know 100% that ostrich is explicitly forbidden in the Torah, we don't even need to derive anything. The birds that are kosher are generally regarded as kosher based on unbroken tradition that they are (they are cases of birds no longer being considered kosher by most Jews despite them once being considered kosher, because the tradition was broken, but we'll get to that later).
Of course, there are many more birds species besides those listed, and very early on the Sages figured signs of kosher and non-kosher birds based on the list. First, as you can see, many of the birds on the list are birds of prey, so any birds of prey are automatically non-kosher. That was easy for them to figure out.
But what about anatomical signs?
Well, they figured that out, too. (Chullin 59a)
A bird that claws its prey and eats is non-kosher (such as birds of prey).
A kosher bird has a digit seperated slightler higher behind the other three toes, a crop, and/or a gizzard that has a membrane on the inside that can be peeled. Below is a comparison of raven feet and a parrot's foot, versus duck feet and chicken feet. On the left, the raven and parrot's feet have all their toes branching out of the same level. On the right, the duck and chicken feet's back toe is slightly elevated and seperate from the other toes.
A bird that perches on a wire with two toes in the front and two in the back is non-kosher, as demonstrated below by a close-up of a parrot's feet while perching. You can see that there are only two toes in the front, while the other two are in the back.
So, in order for a bird to be considered kosher, it must not be on the list of non-kosher birds provided in the Torah, must fulfil the anatomical descriptions outlined later by the Sages, and must have a tradition of being kosher.
Israel is the largest consumer of turkey meat per capita. This is because Jews eat a lot of turkey, including kosher-keeping Jews. But.....turkey is a New World bird! How can there be a tradition of turkeys being kosher if the ancient Israelites would have never encountered turkeys???
So this is where it gets even more interesting. When turkey was first introduced to Jews, it became widely popular. It's thought that Jews first started eating it because of its similarity to chicken, and assumed it must be kosher. Eventually, the Rabbis realized they had to make a decision about the status of turkeys. If they ruled turkeys as non-kosher, then all the Jews who had already been eating turkeys would be ruled as eating non-kosher, which y'know as a Rabbi you really don't want to declare a whole bunch of Jews as doing the wrong thing. So, most Rabbis relied on a passage in the Talmud stating that a non-kosher animal cannot become pregnant by kosher animals (Bekhorot 7a). Since turkeys and chickens can hybridize, Rabbis relied on this passage to declare turkeys as kosher. There are still some Jews today that don't regard turkey as kosher, but it is accepted as kosher by the majority of world Jewry and is a very popular meat.
What about peacocks? Well, peafowl are mentioned numerous times in the Tanakh and in Jewish history as being eaten, but today, the Orthodox Union does not certify them as kosher. Peafowl are genetically related to other kosher birds and have all the necessary signs.....but they are no longer considered kosher by major Orthodox opinions. This is because the last record of peafowl being considered kosher and eaten by a Jewish community was in the mid 19th century. The tradition was broken, and therefore peafowl aren't eaten or certified, despite the fact that they technically are kosher.
Now here's where is gets fun- somehow, the distinctions between kosher and non-kosher birds fit really neatly within our modern understanding of bird phylogeny. Most kosher birds fall under the Galliformes (chickens and friends) and Anseriformes (ducks and friends) Orders, which are more closely related to eachother than they are to any other Orders, and make up the Superoder Galloanserae. The only kosher birds that don't fall into that Superorder are pigeons and doves, but pigeons and doves are already considered a little different by the Sages- they're the only birds that can be used as offerings in the Temple. This is yet another example of how well the ancient Jewish animal classifications fit with out modern phylogenetic understanding, it's super cool. Because grebes and gallinules look a lot more similar to ducks than chickens do, but nope, they are not kosher while ducks and chickens are, and indeed, ducks and chickens are more closely related to each other than ducks are related to grebes and gallinules.
So, in conclusion- ostriches aren't kosher because
1) They are listed among the non-kosher birds in the Torah
2) They are missing toes- their toes are not in the configuration outlined in the Talmud, and in fact they only have two very large toes, as you can see below:
3) They do not have a crop (all ratites do not have crops)
Hope you enjoyed this long-winded way of answering why ostriches aren't kosher :)
Further Reading:
A Peafowl by any other Name
What Are the Signs of a Kosher Bird?
The Liberated Bird: Let’s Talk Turkey
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