Question

Mention any four flight adaptations in birds.

Answer 1

There are several kinds of modifications found in birds like no hands, lighter bodyweight, exterior appearances, external features, etc., that birds have adapted to so that they can fly in the air.

Step by step answer: Birds belong to the class Aves. This class consists of creatures that can fly in the sky. They have thus developed some adaptations over the time that help them in dwelling in the air. Some of these adaptations are morphological and the others are anatomical.
-Few adaptations adopted by the birds to be able to fly in the sky are as follows –
The forelimbs of birds are modified into wings. These wings assist them in flying. Due to this reason wings have a very large surface area. Also, they have very strong flight muscles. The number of mitochondria in the cells making up the wings of birds is very high. This is to provide energy for long flights.
-The body of the birds is covered with feathers. These feathers help in making them air light. Also, the feathers make the body of the birds very streamlined and they thus help in reducing the friction.
-The bones of the birds are hollow, which are known as the Pneumatic bones. This makes their body very light for flights.
-The lungs of the birds are very spongy. They have supplementary air sacs with them. This reduces the weight of the birds further and increases their oxygen intake.

Note: It is a common misconception that all the birds can fly. However, this is not true. Some birds cannot fly. This is because their bodies are not modified for flight adaptations. However, they have adaptations to dwell on land. These birds are kept under the superorder of Palaeognathae or Ratite.