2007-02-27 10:31:47 · 10 answers · asked by Dmankind 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
They are hollow therefore very light
2007-02-27 10:35:26 · answer #1 · answered by sporritt 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Bird bones are partially hollow, in order to make the bones strong they have struts & spicules inside, you can think of these as little collumns in that add support to the bone while allowing part of it to be hollow. As for weight, proportionally a bird's skelleton is no lighter than a mammal's, however the head is. This is one of the features to make the center of mass closer to the body (as well as having muscles / organs there. This makes the bird more stable during flight (imagine if the head were heavy bird would tip forward during flight). Birds also have many fused and elongated bones. In the wing this increases the arch of lever, look at it like a see-saw with very long end on one side and a short one on the other, if you were to make the small end go down you get a fairly big movement on the long side, whereas if you did this with the long side there would only be a fairly small movement on the small side, so the birds take advantage of this to maximize wing movement.
2007-02-27 14:43:48 · answer #2 · answered by crazy.carabid 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their bones aren't HOLLOW...they are very porous...a lot more so than ours so that way it makes them light weight which in return makes them able to fly.
2007-02-27 10:39:54 · answer #3 · answered by Crystal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their bones are hollow, therefore very lightweight, making it easier for them to stay in the air.
2007-02-27 10:36:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are extremely light in comparison to land animals, I believe they may even be hollow, of course there are other things that help more like the wing design and muscle structures
2007-02-27 10:36:19 · answer #5 · answered by hardcore_pawn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i havent been to school in years and dont remember all of it.
but i think it has to do with the way and how light the bones are.
hoped i helped
2007-02-27 10:36:35 · answer #6 · answered by seandudczak 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are hollow so that make them light and the bird is better able to float instead of beating its wings as much.
2007-02-27 10:42:37 · answer #7 · answered by Fire Dance 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They're hollow for one thing, so that makes them light weight.
2007-02-27 10:35:42 · answer #8 · answered by marklemoore 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are light so the help because they are light. they are light
2007-02-27 10:36:08 · answer #9 · answered by Steve Jobs 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are light weight
2007-02-28 11:21:05 · answer #10 · answered by hill bill y 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋