1. Skeletal anatomy Order of the day Sphenisciformes (penguins)
Hummingbird

2. 17 Species

5. King Penguin

6. The Falkland Islands are not just famous for the 1982 conflict
The Falkland Islands are not just famous for the 1982 conflict. Hundreds of thousands of penguins – including one of the world’s most northerly colonies of King penguins – live on the archipelago.
The King population, which was once hunted for oil, was virtually wiped out by the late 1800s, but they started to reappear in the 1930s and have been steadily growing in number since.
A few adults are often left in charge of a large ‘nursery’ of chicks, while their parents head off in search of food. Pictures by Phil Coomes with words by Paula Dear
Breeding takes place in large colonies near the shore, with parents taking turns to incubate the egg on their feet for 55 days. They have an unusual breeding cycle of every 18 months.
Falklands Conservation monitors six study sites on the island annually, and does a full penguin census every five years. The Falklands are also home to relatively stable populations of Gentoo and Magellanics and a small number of Macaroni penguins

7. Gentoo Penguin

8. Gentoos & Kings

9. Adelie Penguin

11. Chinstrap Penguin

12. Avian ancestors were bipedal freeing up the forelimbs to become wings
Bird skeletons similar to those of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and crocodiles
Avian ancestors were bipedal freeing up the forelimbs to become wings
Golden Eagle

13. Strengthen skeleton by fusion & struts
Flight adaptations
Reduce weight (?)
Centralize mass
Strengthen skeleton by fusion & struts
Rigid backbone
Golden Eagle

14. Two centers of gravity

15. Weight reducing adaptations
No urinary bladder
Usually only left ovary & oviduct
Gonads become small seasonally
Skin very thin
Frigate Bird’s skeleton weighs less than its feathers
Skeleton - skull much lighter in birds
rat skull 1.25% body mass
pigeon skull 0.21% body mass

17. Myth of the lighter skeleton (1679 Borelli De Motu Animalium)
Welty Pigeon skeleton 4.4% BM
Rat skeleton 5.6%
Gill “lightweight bones” “lightweight toothless bill”

18. Mammals Y = 0.061 X1.09 Skeletal mass (kg) Body mass (kg)
Prange, Anderson & Rahn Am. Nat.
Body mass (kg)

19. Birds
Y = X1.07
Skeletal mass (kg)
Body mass (kg)

20. On average, bird’s skeletons weigh 107% of mammal’s

21. A male mallard and a mink both weigh just over 1 kg and have the same body length. But the mallard has much larger volume due to hollow bones.
Mallard and the mink weigh the same and their skeletons are the same mass, but the mallard has hollow bones and a much greater volume
A male mallard and a mink both weigh just over 1 kg and have the same body length. But the mallard has much larger volume due to hollow bones.

22. Sword-billed Hummingbird

24. Forelimb
1st digit claw in muskovey duck, ostrich hoatzin & African finfoot.

25. Pectoral Girdle

30. Do not learn any of these structures
The main point is the muscles that move the wing are on the body which helps w/ the center of gravity

31. Cervical vertebra Parakeets = 11
Swans = 25
Scleral ossicles form a sclerotic ring
Both upper and lower jaw movable in many species

33. Hyoid Apparatus

34. Spinal column THORACIC ribs attached to T
3-10 vertebra, usually 3-5 fused to form “dorsal bone”
LUMBAR = 6 vert.
lumbar sacral fused to form synsacrum
CAUDAL
12+ with half in Pygostyle