Flight Of The Birds
by Elizabeth Winter
Title
Flight Of The Birds
Artist
Elizabeth Winter
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Origin of Flight
Exactly how birds acquired the ability to fly has baffled scientists for years. Archaeopteryx provided a starting point for speculation. Built like a dinosaur, but with wings, scientists guessed at how a hypothetical ancestor might have taken flight. Some scientists support the arboreal hypothesis (e.g., Feduccia 1996) and suggest that the ancestors of Archaeopteryx lived in trees and glided into flapping flight (Figure to the right). But others argue that the claws of Archaeopteryx weren't suited to climbing. So, others support the cursorial hypothesis (e.g., Burgers and Chiappe 1999) and suggest that these ancestors used their long, powerful legs to run fast with their arms outstretched, and were at some point lifted up by air currents and carried into flapping flight (Figure to the bottom right).
Studying living animals can throw light on their evolutionary past. Ken Dial (2003) of the Flight Lab at the University of Montana noticed the ability of gamebird chicks to escape danger by scrambling up vertical surfaces. The chicks first run very fast, flapping their immature, partially feathered wings, frantically creating enough momentum to run up a vertical surface to safety. Could this survival instinct be the origin of flight?
And finally, James Carey, a UC Davis demographer and ecologist, has proposed that the evolution of bird flight is linked to parental care (Carey and Adams 2001).
Whatever the origins, dinosaurs, and birds, eventually took to the air.
Uploaded
August 12th, 2015
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Comments (21)
Kellice Swaggerty
There is a somewhat nocturnal mood here, offset by the light in the sky to the distant horizon. And it's deeply beautiful! L/F
Karen Slagle
Gorgeous, Elizabeth. I'm loving your foggy scenes with birds in flight. The fog has a way of enhancing anything. f/l
Marcia Colelli
Very beautiful silhouetted capture with the birds in flight. Nice capture of the mist. L/F