Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Disappearance of Bird Teeth
According to http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/birds/morphevol/main.htmbird the first birds such as the Archaeopteryx had teeth. Bird teeth then disappeared (dis-evolved?) because birds simply didn't need them. Amazing that evolution would spend millions of years evolving teeth, then do a 180 and dis-evolve teeth:
Quote: Because flight requires a highly centralized body mass with light extremities, a bird's head must be very light. Teeth, and the jaws that hold them, are cumbersome and, for birds, no longer necessary. (I wonder if we (humans) will evolve beaks since the invention of the blender makes chewing unnecessary?? Further, why would Archaeopteryx evolve teeth in the first place, since they are deleterious to flight?) Instead of using teeth to tear food into pieces, birds use one of two strategies; they will either eat only food items of a size they can swallow whole, or, as in raptors, they will have a beak adapted for tearing food. In general, a bird's beak is adapted to the kinds of food it eats. Unquote
(Does anybody believe this one? The teeth of birds just disappeared?? Are there fossils showing the disappearance of bird teeth? Did the teeth get smaller and smaller with each generation and finally vanish, or did they disappear one by one? Of course, evolution scientists have found fossils that show boney jaws morphing into bird beaks. Of course.)
Quote: Because flight requires a highly centralized body mass with light extremities, a bird's head must be very light. Teeth, and the jaws that hold them, are cumbersome and, for birds, no longer necessary. (I wonder if we (humans) will evolve beaks since the invention of the blender makes chewing unnecessary?? Further, why would Archaeopteryx evolve teeth in the first place, since they are deleterious to flight?) Instead of using teeth to tear food into pieces, birds use one of two strategies; they will either eat only food items of a size they can swallow whole, or, as in raptors, they will have a beak adapted for tearing food. In general, a bird's beak is adapted to the kinds of food it eats. Unquote
(Does anybody believe this one? The teeth of birds just disappeared?? Are there fossils showing the disappearance of bird teeth? Did the teeth get smaller and smaller with each generation and finally vanish, or did they disappear one by one? Of course, evolution scientists have found fossils that show boney jaws morphing into bird beaks. Of course.)
# posted by Stephen B.Thomas DDS @ 10:01 PM 
