Running head: FLIGHTLESS BIRDS 1

Flightless Birds are more prone to Extinction compared to Flying Birds

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Flightless Birds are more prone to Extinction compared to Flying Birds

According to a recent study by the University of Gothenburg, researchers have found that

flightless birds are at a bigger risk of becoming extinct, as compared to birds with flying

capabilities (ScienceDirect, 2020). According to the study, flightlessness among birds develops

as an environmental adaptation in habitats with significantly lower numbers of predators, for

example islands. Furthermore, researchers argued that flightless birds happen to be descendants

of birds that did have flying capabilities but later developed other terrestrial capabilities as the

need for flying diminished. As an evolutionary process, flightlessness leads to reduction in

growth of wings; a biological process that inhibits flight capabilities. Flightlessness amongst

birds, however, increases the chances of land-based predators such as rats to fend off these

flightless birds. Many known extinct bird species happen to be birds that lacked the ability to fly,

with the Dodo species being the most recently known flightless bird to go extinct. The Dodo

species was only found in Mauritius, an Island country located in the Indian ocean. Wings

happen to be vital features that differentiate birds from other animals, a notion that further

strengthens the discovery of flightless birds being the most vulnerable to extinction. Wings, apart

from being the parts that facilitate movement via flight, also play a crucial role in swimming

capabilities amongst aquatic birds. In conclusion, this argument implicitly highlights that

flightless birds are more vulnerable to extinction in comparison to birds with flight capabilities.
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Reference

ScienceDirect. (2020, December 7). Flightless bird species at risk of extinction. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201203133915.htm