Flightless to the Bone

Jeffrey Allen ’17 (center), a teaching assistant in Professor of Biology Nina Karnovsky’s Avian Ecology class, joins Ellie Harris ’18 (left) and Vanessa Machuca ’18, students in the class, to examine the skeleton of an ostrich, part of the vertebrate specimens collection housed in the Biology Department. “From one look at the breastbone you can tell that this bird can’t fly,” Karnovsky notes. “There is no keel for flight muscles—it is totally smooth—plus the wings are tiny. It dramatically shows adaptations for running—lots of area for attaching leg muscles. I use this in my Vertebrate Biology class as well. I have no idea where it came from or how long we have had it. I just love it.”