The Jedi are leaders and peacekeepers in the Star Wars universe. The Jedi Order are depicted as an ancient monastic, academic and quasi-militaristic organization whose origin dates back 25,000 years before the events of the first film released in the franchise, it has been confirmed that at the high point of the Jedi Order there were 250,000 Jedi in the Star Wars universe. Jedi were powerful Force-wielders and adjudicators tasked by the Galactic Republic to be the guardians of peace and order in the Star Wars galaxy; the Order consisted of polymaths. A level of diversity extends throughout the organization, composed of hundreds of different species, thousands of different worlds, those outside the Republic itself; when operating beyond the limits of Republican territory, they act autonomously and make decisions with the potential to affect countless lives. They were the first representatives of the Republic encountered by new species and nations; the Jedi moral value system viewed purity of thought and detachment of emotions as essential to enlightenment.

Jedi philosophy emphasized self-improvement through knowledge and wisdom, adherence to slave morality, selfless service through acts of charity and volunteerism. The Jedi denounce emotions as the root cause of mortal suffering; the Jedi are the opposite of the Sith, another group of force wielders, the Sith use their passion, other strong emotions to fuel their power. Sith are "dark mirrors" to Jedi. A Jedi’s traditional weapon is the lightsaber, a device which generates a blade-like plasma powered by a Kyber crystal or other focusing item, ex. Krayt Pearl; the fictional organization has inspired Jediism. The word Jedi is said to have been adapted by George Lucas from Japanese 時代劇, or inspired by the words Jed and Jeddak in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a series that Lucas considered adapting to film; the film Rogue One suggests that within the Star Wars mythology itself, it relates to the planet Jedha, source of the crystals used in lightsabers. George Lucas acknowledged Jedi and other Force concepts have been inspired by many sources.

These include: knighthood chivalry, samurai bushido, Shaolin Monastery, Feudalism, Qigong, Greek philosophy, Greek mythology, Roman history, Roman mythology, parts of the Abrahamic religions, Shintō, Taoism, not to mention countless cinematic precursors. The works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and mythologist Joseph Campbell his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas, was what drove him to create the'modern myth' of Star Wars; as depicted in the canon, the Jedi study and utilize the Force, in order to help and protect those in need. The Jedi members, known as Jedi Knights, respect all life by defending and protecting those who cannot do it for themselves, striving for peaceful and non-combative solutions to any altercations they encounter and fighting only in self-defense and for the defense of those they protect. By training the mind and the body, the Jedi seek to improve themselves by gaining unfettered access to the Force while seeking to improve those individuals and groups they come in contact with.

Like their evil counterparts, the Sith, the main weapon of the Jedi is the lightsaber. However, according to Lucas, "The Force doesn't have anything to do with the lightsaber. Anybody can have a lightsaber. It's just a weapon like a pistol."Qui-Gon Jinn gives us an insight into the Force in Episode I when he tells Anakin: "Your focus determines your reality." And he explains: "Midi-chlorians are microscopic lifeforms that reside within all of your cells. And we are symbionts with them. Lifeforms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist and we would have no knowledge of The Force, they continually speak to us the telling us the will of The Force. When you learn to quiet your mind you’ll hear them speaking to you." In Episode IV, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker: "The force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things, it surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together." "... a Jedi can feel the force flowing through him.

It controls your actions, but it obeys your commands." Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure. Hypocrisy, hubris. At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, wipe them out, it was a Jedi Master, responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader. The Jedi are first introduced in the 1977 motion picture Star Wars as an order of warrior monks who serve as "the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy" and embrace the mystical Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi explains that the Galactic Empire has all but exterminated the Jedi, seeks to train Luke Skywalker to be the Jedi Order's last hope. Darth Vader is established as the Jedi's main enemy. By the end of the film, which depicts the Battle of Yavin, Luke is on the path to

Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. was an American naturalist and filmmaker, president of the Wilson Ornithological Society from 1948 to 1950, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Audubon Society from 1955 to 1974, a Life Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union. Born October 30, 1907 in Belgrade, Pettingill attended Bowdoin College, where he developed an interest in ornithology. Studying under the zoologist Alfred O. Gross, Pettingill conducted studies of the last three heath hens on Martha's Vineyard in 1927 with Gross and Thornton Burgess. In 1928, Pettingill enrolled in the University of Michigan attended graduate school at Cornell University starting in 1930 – joining the AOU in the same year – where he conducted a PhD dissertation on the American woodcock. Appointed a delegate to the 12th and 14th International Ornithological Congresses, Pettingill was appointed Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in 1960, a position he held until his retirement in 1973, provided footage for four Walt Disney nature films, including the Academy Award-winning The Vanishing Prairie, in addition to making several ornithological films of his own, including works on albatrosses and the wildlife of island nations, which aired as part of Audubon Screen Tours.

Tenured at Carleton College for 17 years, Pettingill taught at the University of Michigan Biological Station for 35 years. Pettingill was awarded birding's highest honor, the Ludlow Griscom Award, in 1982, received Cornell's Arthur A. Allen Medal in 1974, the Eisenmann Medal in 1985. Holding three honorary doctorates in science, Pettingill appeared on both The Today Show and To Tell the Truth. Pettingill died December 2001, in Bedford, Texas. BooksOrnithology in Laboratory and Field, 1939; the Bird Watcher's America, editor, 1974 Another Penguin Summer, 1975 My Way to Ornithology, 1992FilmsNature's Half Acre, 1951 Water Birds, 1952 The Vanishing Prairie, 1954 Islands of the Sea, 1960 Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. on IMDb "Choosing a basic ornithological library". American Birds. 30: 1009–1015. October 1976. Works by or about Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. at Internet Archive

Phoenicopteridae is a wading bird family including flamingos and their close extinct relatives. Flamingos and their relatives are well attested in the fossil record, with the first unequivocal member of the Phoenicopteridae, Elornis known from the late Eocene epoch. A considerable number of little-known birds from the Late Cretaceous onwards are sometimes considered to be flamingo ancestors; these include the genera Torotix, Gallornis, Tiliornis and Kashinia. An extinct family of peculiar "swimming flamingos", the Palaelodidae, are believed to be related to, or to be the ancestors of, the modern flamingos; this is sometimes rejected, since the fossil Elornis is known to be from some time before any palaelodid flamingos have been recorded. Living Phoenicopteridae based on the work by John Boyd. Compiled from the following websites: Extinct species assignment follows the Mikko's Phylogeny Archive and Paleofile.com websites. and subspecies names from English Names of Birds. Family Phoenicopteridae Bonaparte 1831 Genus †Harrisonavis Kashin 1978 †Harrisonavis croizeti Kashin 1978 Genus †Leakeyornis Vickers-Rich & Walker 1983 †Leakeyornis aethiopicus Vickers-Rich & Walker 1983 Genus †Elornis Milne-Edwards 1868 †E. anglicus Aymard 1856 nomen nudum †E. grandis Milne-Edwards 1868 †E. littoralis Milne-Edwards 1868 Phoenicopteridae gen. et sp. indet.

Genus Phoenicopterus †P. floridanus Brodkorb 1953 †P. stocki †P. siamensis Cheneval et al. 1991 †P. gracilis Miller 1963 P. chilensis Molina, 1782 P. roseus Pallas, 1811 P. ruber Linnaeus, 1758 Genus Phoeniconaias Gray, 1869 Phoeniconaias minor Genus Phoenicoparrus Bonaparte, 1856 P. andinus P. jamesi