2. The evolution of flightless birds
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3. A few facts about flightless birds
There are over 60 species of flightless birds in the world, including birds from many different groups such as –
The ‘ratites’ including the ostrich, emu, cassowary and kiwi
Penguins
Pelicans and Cormorants
Kingfishers and Hornbills
Herons and Ibis
Birds of prey
Parrots
Pigeons and Doves
Owls Gulls and Terns…… and many more
Many species are now extinct, including the famous Dodo and the large waterfowl bird, moa-nalos of Hawaii.
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4. Where can flightless birds be found?
Kiwis and Kakapos in New Zealand
Cormorants in
Galapagos
Cassowaries and Emus in Australia
Rheas in South America
Ostriches in Africa
Penguin species in Antarctica, South America and Australasia
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5. Challenge task!
With a learning partner look at the map and distribution of some of the worlds flightless birds.
Can you see a pattern in their distribution?
If there is a pattern, can you explain why this may be?
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6. Let us look at 2 places where flightless birds live today.
The Kakapo is the world’s rarest and heaviest parrot. Once common on the main islands, it now only survives on remote islands off the coast of New Zealand.
The Flightless Cormorant is the only species of cormorant that has lost the ability to fly. It lives on the rocky shores of the islands of Fernandina and Isabela in the Galapagos.
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7. Challenge task!
Develop a theory about why birds such as the Cormorant and Kakapo became flightless.
You may want to consider the following in developing your hypothesis –
The location/geography of where they live
What type of habitat do they live in?
What resources are available for them that provide the basic essentials for life? You may want to think about the availability of food.
What other species share their habitat?
Do they have any natural predators?
What is the most important thing for them to expend their energy on?
Share your theory with the rest of the class. You will need to explain your ideas clearly and justify your ideas. You may not agree with some hypotheses – question and reason as to why you disagree and suggest why your theory is correct.
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8. Were your ideas and theories right?
On the next slide watch the two video clips that explain why some species of birds became flightless.
Were your ideas and theories right?
Make notes on any points that you need to as you will need them for later.
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9. Click to watch
Click to watch

10. Key points for why some birds have lost the ability to fly.
Do they match yours?
Environmental pressures can lead to changes in traits and evolution of species
If there are no natural land predators, which is more often the case on smaller islands, the need to fly away from danger is removed
If the environment provides plentiful food and fairly stable weather conditions birds don’t need to travel or migrate in search of food or to find suitable breeding and nesting sites. Why waste energy flying when they don’t need to?
In the case of land birds such as the ostrich and emu, losing the ability to fly meant that they increased in size and became better suited for running
For birds that rely on the ocean for their food, such as penguins and the flightless cormorant, being able to swim, dive and manoeuvre more easily in the water was more important than the ability to fly
As their ability to dive and swim increased, the ability to fly decreased
Wings cannot work as efficiently both in the air and in water, so over time evolution favoured the ability to swim
Convergent evolution is when species independently evolve the same traits, such as having or losing the ability to fly, and human and koala fingerprints!
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