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- Flightless birds all have what are known as vestigial wings. (A vestigial feature is one that had a necessary function for a species’ ancestors, but is not particularly important for modern species.) The wings of a flightless bird are anatomical, rudimentary wings, but are so small or powerless as to be useless to enable flight.
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These are known as vestigial structures: features that had a necessary function at one time for an organism’s ancestors, but are nowhere near as important for modern species. Wings on flightless birds are just one example.
- Why Evolution Isn't Perfect
Like, what’s with wings on flightless birds, or eyes in...
- Why Evolution Isn't Perfect
Oct 24, 2022 · Among the ratites, for instance, ostriches still have fairly large wings, which they use as rudders when running and turning. Wing vestiges may also serve in courtship displays, as in rheas. By contrast, emus and kiwis have minute, vestigial wings, and moa had none at all.
Nov 4, 2019 · The evolution of flight loss in these birds is associated with a reduction in wing size . This reduction is most extreme in the wingless moa, least extreme in the ostrich, and intermediate in the emu, which has small, vestigial wings.
- Sergio G. Minchey, Douglas B. Menke
- 2019
Flight feathers are masterpieces of evolution, helping penguins swim, eagles soar and hummingbirds hover. Now, research from an international team led by USC scientists has shed light on how feathers developed and helped birds spread across the world.
May 6, 2019 · Since Darwin’s era, scientists have wondered how flightless birds like emus, ostriches, kiwis, cassowaries, and others are related, and for decades the assumption was that they must all share a common ancestor who abandoned the skies for a more grounded life.
Oct 17, 2022 · Grounded fliers. One of the largest families of birds today is the ratites. It includes a diverse range of long-necked, long-legged, mostly large and mostly flightless birds — with the...
May 13, 2014 · Unlike most birds, their flat breastbones lack the keel that anchors the strong pectoral muscles required for flight. Their puny wings can't possibly lift their heavy bodies off...
