http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609092055.htm
"This is fundamental to bird physiology," said Devon Quick, an OSU instructor of zoology who completed this work as part of her doctoral studies. "It's really strange that no one realized this before. The position of the thigh bone and muscles in birds is critical to their lung function, which in turn is what gives them enough lung capacity for flight."
However, every other animal that has walked on land, the scientists said, has a moveable thigh bone that is involved in their motion – including humans, elephants, dogs, lizards and – in the ancient past – dinosaurs.
The implication, the researchers said, is that birds almost certainly did not descend from theropod dinosaurs, such as tyrannosaurus or allosaurus. The findings add to a growing body of evidence in the past two decades that challenge some of the most widely-held beliefs about animal evolution."
Täytyy sanoa että tämä vähän musersi minua. Minusta oli niin kaunis ajatus että linnut on dinosaurusten jälkeläisiä. No faktat on faktoja. Aina ei voi voittaa.
"During walking and running in birds, hindlimb movement is generated primarily at the knee and ankle joints; in humans, movement occurs at the knee, ankle and hip joints. The bird's thigh does not move substantially from its nearly horizontal position where it provides rigid lateral support to the thin walled air-sacs of the respiratory system." Niin... ja tuo selittää sen miksi linnut kävellessään kävelee kun puujaloilla.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/06/090609092055-large.jpg
^Reisiluu pysyy kohtalaisen paikallaan, ja ainoastaan polven ja nilkan nivelet liikkuu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wghjR7xamO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kbfLUrHDGI
Ei hirvittävän sulavan näköistä :)