Date: June 7, 2017
Source: American Ornithological
Society Publications Office
We're all familiar with
flightless birds: ostriches, emus, penguins -- and ducks? Ducks and geese, part
of a bird family called the anatids, have been especially prone to becoming
flightless over the course of evolutionary history. However, it can be
difficult to determine from fossils whether an extinct anatid species could fly
or not. A new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances takes a fresh
approach, classifying species as flightless or not based on how far their
skeletal proportions deviate from the expected anatomy of a flying bird and
offering a glimpse into the lives of these extinct waterfowl.
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