Why can't ostriches fly?

The ostrich's flying organs are different from those of other birds, which is another reason why it cannot fly. The flying organs of birds mainly include wings and feathers transformed from the forelimbs. Among the feathers, the flight feathers and tail feathers are the ones that really have the function of flying. The flight feathers grow on the wings, and the tail feathers grow on the tail. This kind of feather is composed of many slender barbs, and each barb is densely covered with rows of barbules. There are hooks on the barbules, which hook the barbs together to form feathers. The feathers fan the air and make the birds fly. The tail feathers on the tail can also be connected into feathers by feather hooks, which act as a rudder during flight.

In order to keep the flying organs of birds functioning normally, they also have a tail fat gland, which secretes oil to protect the feathers from deformation. The way the feathers of flying birds grow on their bodies is also very particular. Generally, they are divided into feather areas and bare areas, that is, some areas of the body surface are covered with feathers, while some areas are not covered with feathers. This way of feather growth is conducive to intense flying movements. Ostrich feathers have neither flight feathers nor tail feathers, and they do not have a feather maintenance device - the pygostyle gland. The feathers are evenly distributed on the body surface, without the distinction between feather areas and bare areas. Its flying organs are highly degraded, and it is impossible to fly.

So why did the flying organs of ostriches degenerate? This starts with the origin of birds. It is speculated that about 200 million years ago, an ancient reptile evolved into birds. It is still unclear which reptile is the ancestor of birds. With the prosperity of the bird family and the gradual change from aquatic to terrestrial environment, while adapting to the changing environment on land, birds have also adapted to different lifestyles, and there have been many ecological types such as waterfowl such as penguins, wading birds such as red-crowned cranes, swimming birds such as mallards, land birds such as turtledoves, raptors such as owls, climbing birds such as cuckoos, and songbirds such as magpies. The ostrich is another type of walking bird among these ecological types. Living in the vast desert for a long time has caused its wings and tail to degenerate, but its hind limbs are well-developed and powerful, allowing it to adapt to desert running life.

The laws of nature are ruthless, and you can only adapt but not resist. If the ancestors of the ostrich had insisted on flying over the empty desert instead of being willing to find some edible food on the ground, they might have become extinct long ago. To put it another way, if nature had first settled the ancestors of ostriches in the woods instead of in the desert, the ostrich might not have become a flightless bird, but it might not have been called an ostrich either.

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