Birds Flashcards

1
Q

Archaeopteryx

A
  • Discovered in 1861; 150 mya
  • Still very “reptile-like” in its skeleton: long bony tail, clawed fingers
  • But… Flying feathers!
    -> asymmetrical
  • First bird? First flying dinosaur?
  • Perfect intermediate/transitional form
  • The link between birds & Theropod dinosaurs
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2
Q

Early Feathered “Dinosaurs”

A
  1. E.g., Sinosauropteryx
    - Compsognathid Dinosaur
    - Fine filamentous feathers (no flight)
  2. E.g., Caudipteryx
    - Short forelimbs
    - Symmetrical vaned feathers (no flight)
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3
Q

Bird-like “Dinosaur” (or “Dinosaur”-like Bird?)

A

Feathers of similar design
- Downy, vanes, asymmetrical, pennaceous..
- Long, mobile, S-shaped neck
- A furcula or fused clavicle (wishbone!)
- Specialised lunate wrist bones that permit folding wing down
- Saurischian-like pelvis (but directed posteriorly like birds)
But still with…
- Grasping forelimb (fused in birds)
- No large keel on sternum
- Long tail (pygostyle in birds)
- Teeth (birds are toothless)

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4
Q

Birds: Feathers Before Flight

A

Feathers originally evolved for thermoregulation
- Downy feathers in small theropods
DID NOT evolve from membrane-winged Pterosaurs!
Feathers or flight first?
- Birds: feathers 1st
- Pterosaurs & bats: flight 1st, no feathers

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5
Q

Origin of Bird Flight

A
  1. Arboreal Hypothesis (Trees -> Down)
    - Ancestors were tree climbers, jumping from branch to branch
    - Gliding: less energy and minimal wing flapping
  2. Cursorial Hypothesis (Ground -> Up)
    - Flapping flight from ground-dwelling bipedal runners
    - Used wings like a plane
    - Wing-assisted incline running
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6
Q

Why Fly?

A
  • Air = unexploited habitat
  • Food: flying insects
  • Avoid predators
  • Rapid travel & migration
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7
Q

Adaptations for Flight

A
  1. Feathers & wings
    - support, propulsion, streamlining
  2. Skeleton
    - must provide a light but rigid airframe
  3. Muscles
    - huge muscles to meet demands of flight, aerodynamic stability
  4. Digestion
    - Must meet high-energy demands of flight
  5. Respiratory System
    - must meet high oxygen demands and cool the body
    - nine interconnected air sacs (oxygen storage)
  6. Nervous system
    - must have superb sensory systems for high-velocity flight
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8
Q

Feathers = High Power, Little Weight

A

Keratinized, on the epidermis
- still supplied with living tissue
Hollow quill (calamus)
- emerges from skin follicle and forms into a shaft/rachis
- Rachis bears numerous barbs
- Up to several hundred barbs are arranged to form a flat, webbed surface, the vane
- Each barb resembles a miniature feather with many barbules (hold/zip it together)

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9
Q

Flight Mechanics

A

Birds have to:
- Generate enough force to exceed mass
- Provide forward propulsion while in air to keep moving
WINGS
- Streamlined with a concave lower surface (cambered)
- Feathers on leading edge tightly packed
- Air moves smoothly & faster over the wing creating lift with minimal drag
LIFT
- Some lift comes from positive pressure against the underside of the wing
- Most lift comes from negative pressure above the wing

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10
Q

Preventing Stalling

A
  • Stalling (or completely dropping out of the sky!!) is prevented by a *wing slot along the leading edge

*Slots direct rapidly moving air across the leading surface
- The alula (winglet): group of small feathers on the “thumb”, provides a midwing slot
- Wing-tip slots: gaps between the primary feathers

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11
Q

Flapping Flight

A
  • Horizontal thrusting force - primaries (on hand bones)
  • vertical lifting force - secondaries (on ulna)
  • greatest power from the downstroke
  • A powered upstroke is essential for hovering and fast, steep takeoffs
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12
Q

Bird Skeleton

A
  • The main contributor to being lightweight!
  • Inherited from basal theropod dinosaurs

Light, delicate bones laced with air cavities (pneumatized)
- Human skeleton is 12% of body mass
- Bird skeleton ONLY 5% of body mass

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13
Q

Fused Bones & Bones Adapted for Flight

A

Vertebral column is very rigid
- Vertebrae fused except for cervical vertebrae

Ribs are mostly fused with vertebrae, pectoral girdle, and sternum

Additional bony structures fused with pelvic girdle
- supports legs and provides rigidity for flight

Furcula and lunate wrist
- elastic furcula (wishbone) stores energy as it flexes during wing beats
- Lunate wrist permitted swivel motion for flight

Keel on sternum (for huge pectoralis muscles)

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14
Q

The Skull and Jaws

A

Skull is fused into one piece
- Braincase and orbits are large to hold a larger brain and eyes

Modern birds have a horny keratinous break molded around bony jaws

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15
Q

Need Muscles to Fly, Too!

A
  1. Pectoralis muscles
    - Depress the wing in flight and are attached to the keel
  2. Supracoacoideus muscle
    - raises the wing, is also attached to the keel
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16
Q

Digestive System

A
  • *Crop: stores food at lower end of esophagus
  • Foods that require grinding are cut apart in the *gizzard
  • End of the digestive system is the *cloaca
    • Also receives products from genital ducts and ureters

Very efficient!
- 3 hours, even just 30 mins, to completely process food!

17
Q

Respiration: Unique & Well-adapted

A
  • High metabolic rate = high oxygen demand
    • 4-chambered heart

Small lungs - use air sacs instead
- Not alveolar lungs, but faveolar: tube-like passages called parabronchi: air flows continuously
- Air sacs: extend into thorax, abdomen, and long bones

18
Q

Nervous System

A

Well-developed cerebral hemispheres, cerebellum and optic lobes
- Large brain to body size ratio
- Cerebellum: movement, equilibrium, coordination

19
Q

Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Nose

A

Poor sense of taste and smell
- But can be highly developed in some birds
Can hear about the same as humans can
- much better at distinguishing differences in pitch and intensity
- e.g. calls of nestlings
EYES: most advanced in the animal Kingdom
- relatively immobile eye
- retina well-equipped with rods and cones!
- UNIQUE: pecten for nutrients and oxygen
Fovea: Keenest vision spots on the retina

20
Q

Excretion: Water Conservation

A

Uric acid
- Concentrated and combined with fecal matter in the cloaca
Kidneys NOT good at removing salt!
- *Salt glands to excrete excess salt from blood

21
Q

Reproduction

A

Monogamy (>90%) & Polygamy

Courtship displays
- Often in polygamous systems where mates are chosen

Testes are very small until the approach of the breeding system
- May then enlarged 300 times

Males of most species lack a penis
- Mating involves bringing cloacal surfaces in contact: “Cloacal Kiss”

22
Q

Nestlings Require Parental Care!

A
  1. Atricial
    - Naked
    - Blind
    - Not mobile
  2. Precocial
    - Downy feathers
    - Eyes open, functional
    - Able to walk or swim
23
Q

Paleognathae

A
  • “Old jaws”
  • 10,000+ species
  • ‘Primitive’, (mostly) flightless (small pectoralis)
  • Big feet for running
  • Ostrich, Moa, Tinamous, Rhea, Cassowary, Kiwi
    2 main groupings:
    1. Galleanserae (fowl)
    2. Neoaves (all other birds)
24
Q

Galloanserae

A
  1. Anseriformes (ducks, geese, swans)
  2. Galliformes (quail, grouse, pheasants, turkeys, chickens…)
25
Q

Neoaves: the rest of the birds

A

Passeriformes = perching songbirds
- Largest Order of land vertebrates
- 60% of all birds (~6500 spp.)
- crows, jays, sparrows, warblers, finches, chickadees, thrushes, wrens…