Flightless Birds
Chapter 26: Reptiles and Birds

Birds that move about by walking, rather than flying, are called flightless birds. The table below gives the average mass and height for five different flightless birds. Is there a relationship between size and whether or not a bird can fly? You can find out if you…

Try This

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1. Make a line graph illustrating the data in the table. Then answer the questions that follow.

   Bird	Height (in m)	Mass (in kg)
   Ostrich	2.49	114
   Common Rhea	1.49	25
   Southern Cassowary	1.80	60
   Emu	1.77	50
   Emperor penguin	1.00	40

Analyze Your Results

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1. Which of the birds listed in the table has the smallest mass? The largest?
2. What is the average height of a flightless bird? Is this taller than you?
3. Why do you suppose these birds cannot fly?

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