About this episode
This is Episode 80. It's all about flightless birds, and about the evolutionary processes that lead to flightlessness.
Flightlessness in birds is, in my opinion, a fascinating scientific topic. And so here we are with this episode.
Alive on the planet today, there are about 60 bird species that can’t fly. That’s only about 0.54 percent of the world’s approximately 11,000 species.
It turns out there were way more flightless bird species out there before humans started exploring and colonizing every corner of the Earth. It wasn’t just the Dodo that was killed off by people.
In today’s episode, we’ll look at the wonderful diversity of flightless bird species—in both the present and the past.
We’ll also talk about conservation and—perhaps the most interesting thing—the evolutionary process that leads to flightlessness. How does this weird thing happen in nature? What causes a bird species to give up its greatest superpower?
~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
Get every episode summarized
Each time The Science of Birds publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from The Science of Birds
Random Bird Thursday: A Highly Vocal Species With Female Helpers
The Science of Birds
Grebes
The Science of Birds
Random Bird Thursday: A Citrus-themed Species with Runny Mascara
The Science of Birds
From the Field: Australia
The Science of Birds