Why do flightless birds have wings?
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From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Moment of Um. Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Paula, the penguin pilot. Hold on, let me shut down my engine. That's better. Hi, I'm Paula. I'm a penguin and a pilot. My plane has taken me all over the world. The Sahara Desert? Too dry. New York City? Too crowded. The North Pole? Too north.

But the wet and wild water park in San Diego? Mwah! Perfection! Nothing like sliding tummy-first into a pool that isn't filled with hungry leopard seals and numbingly cold chunks of ice. Just wish I could get my fellow penguins to come see it. But they insist penguins don't fly. Well, my pilot's license from the avian air school would beg to differ.

I get their point. Without my plane, I'd be as landlocked as the rest of them. I mean, I have wings, but they're better at splashing in the tsunami tub at Wet n' Wild than they are at flying. So if us penguins and other flightless birds can't fly, why do we have these wings anyway? Teddy was wondering this too. Why do flightless birds have wings? So I called up a friend who knows a lot about this. ♪

All birds alive today have a common ancestor, right? And that original bird was able to fly. My name is Jameel Connor, and I am the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago. I study how the group that we know of as birds emerges from amongst other feathered dinosaurs.

Birds diversified all over our planet and adapted for all different ecological niches, right? Like fishing in water or living only in trees, right? There's lots of different ways that birds live. But

But birds that live in certain environments that don't need to fly in order to survive often lose their ability to fly. And this is because it takes a lot more energy to fly than it does to run or walk or swim. So birds have feathers, right? And their feathers make up the wing that they use to fly.

But feathers become damaged with time. Feathers are actually like hair grows continuously, but feathers have to grow as one whole feather. And then the only way for that feather to grow again is for the feather to fall out and to grow a new one. We call this process molting.

and all birds do it at least once a year. So birds have to replace these wing feathers and they do it in different ways. Birds that need to be able to fly to survive will replace only like a couple feathers at a time in their wing so that they can still use the wing to fly. But birds that live in protected

environments or, for example, live near water. So if a predator comes, they can just jump in the water and hide that way. They don't need to be able to fly away. And maybe they feed by swimming. So they also don't need to be able to fly to get their food. So they actually will molt their feathers all at once. And we've noticed that birds that have that molt strategy are more likely to lose their ability to fly because they don't need their ability to fly.

There are very few lineages of flightless birds that have very, very long evolutionary histories. And that one is penguins. Did you guys know that penguins first evolved like 62 million years ago? But they are birds that live

near water and they swim to catch their food so they didn't need to fly and because of that there wasn't this evolutionary pressure on their wings to maintain the function and so they lost the ability to fly and in the case of penguins they actually adapted their wings their arms for a new form of locomotion and actually what they're doing is flying underwater um um uh

Flying underwater? Whoa, I never thought of swimming like that. Here I was about to get my submarine pilot license and it turns out I already have the perfect equipment to explore the oceans right on my penguin body, my wings.

Me and other flightless birds don't really need to fly to get food or escape danger. So over many generations, we stopped using our wingies and they became no good for soaring. But they have other uses, like helping me torpedo my way out of the splash pool at the Wet and Wild water park so I can get a churro faster than anyone else. Now, if you'll excuse me, this penguin pilot has a lot more planet to explore.

Stop! The Grand Canyon! Is it actually grand? I'll let you know. If you liked this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you're curious about life in cold climates, check out the Brains On podcast where we have a whole episode all about the insects of Antarctica. Want to see our shows come to life? Head to YouTube where we've got awesome animated Brains On episodes. Search Brains On Universe on YouTube and subscribe.

If you have a question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. See you next time and the next day and every weekday. Until then, come. Those other penguins are missing out. Woo-hoo!

Hey friends, Molly, Sanden, and Mark here with some very big news. Drumroll please. Intro

We're hitting the road in search of adventure, fresh air, and you. That's right. We're going to be live at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, April 27th. Our science-themed live stage show takes the audience on an adventure through the brain, complete with magic tricks, dance moves, out-of-body experiences, mystery sounds, and a game show. Molly, you almost left out the most important part.

Yeah, Molly, don't forget the big party. Oh, right. After the shows, we're throwing a brain-tastic bash. Join us afterward for a VIP party where we'll play games, guess mystery sounds, pose for photos, and give as many high fives as humanly possible. Snag a spot by purchasing a VIP pass when you buy your show ticket. Oh, that reminds me. I've got to start training. These hands aren't going to high five by themselves. Five and five. Good idea.

And remember, spots are limited, so grab your tickets today at brainson.org slash events.