EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Birds have pneumatic/hollow bones which are connected to the air sacs which increases the blood’s oxygen content and gives a bird more energy for flight. The air sacs in the hollow bones of a bird also function as thermoregulators and help the bird remain light during flight.

Detailed explanation-2: -Like mammals, birds also use oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. They have special air sacs in addition to their lungs, with hollow bones that allow these gasses to flow around the body more easily. This means that one bird breath goes further and does more work than one mammal breath.

Detailed explanation-3: -Birds have light and hollow bones. Most birds are capable of flight with the help of these bones. These hollow bones make their body light which allows them to lift themselves easily.

Detailed explanation-4: -A human bone is dense and filled with bone marrow. However, a bird bone is hollow and filled with air. It also has some cross-sections of bone, called struts, that make the bone strong and help birds withstand taking off, flying and landing.

Detailed explanation-5: -The skeletons of birds are universally described as lightweight as a result of selection for minimizing the energy required for flight. From a functional perspective, the weight (mass) of an animal relative to its lift-generating surfaces is a key determinant of the metabolic cost of flight.