beak
- Also called:
- Bill
beak, stiff, projecting oral structure of certain animals. Beaks are present in a few invertebrates (e.g., cephalopods and some insects), some fishes and mammals, and all birds and turtles. Many dinosaurs were beaked. The term bill is preferred for the beak of a bird, platypus, or dinosaur. Many beaked animals, including all birds and turtles, lack teeth.
A bird’s bill is composed of the upper and lower jaws covered by a horny sheath of skin. The nostrils are found dorsally, usually at the base of the bill. Bills take many shapes and sizes, adapted for food-getting, preening, nest-building, and other functions. Feeding modifications alone include the pouched fish-netting bill of pelicans; the serrated grazing bill of geese; the long, slim nectar-sipping bill of hummingbirds; and the sturdy, curved nut-cracking bill of parrots.