Emus are the second-largest birds after ostriches, which are native to Australia. Emus have wings, but still, they are restricted to flying. Emus were once able to fly, but gradually with time, they lost their power of flight, the reason being some evolutionary mutations. Another reason behind their inability to fly is the size of their wings, which are too short and not well-built to make them able to fly in the air.
Similar to emus, we have heard of ostriches as well, which also cannot fly despite having wings. By looking at the similarity, we can say that just like ostriches, emus’ heavyweight wings make them unable to fly. We have seen a bit of the reason above; however, the real reasons are more complex than this only factor.
According to a theory stated, a lack of predators and an abundance of food saw several birds fatten up following the extinction of dinosaurs, and those birds simply stopped bothering to take to the air. It is believed that scientists have also come up with a theory stating that the ancestors of modern flightless birds such as ostriches and emus were also flightless.
Reasons
The emu’s wings are so short, even smaller than wings of a crow. Their wings extend only up to 7 inches, which are too short for a bird of emus weight to make them fly. Their bodies’ plumage obscures their wings. The wings of the emu are not well-built to give them an upward force to fly. A bird needs to have a sharp pair of wings to give it enough strength without weighing them down to the ground.
However, emus cannot fly, but they can run very fast on the ground. The actual strength of an emu lies in its legs and not in its wings. He can catch a speed of 30-40 miles/hour when it needs to escape from any kind of hunt or danger like that. They do not need to run frequently for their food as they survive on bugs and vegetation only.
We may think that extra bodyweight of emu may be problematic for them, but in reality, it is not, as they don’t need to bother about flying, so the weight is not a real burden to them.
According to scientists, we may think of another real reason for emus inability to flight. The scientists say that the past generation of the emus was very lazy. At that time, the threat to emus was only from dinosaurs, along with some other powerful predators. But when dinosaurs became extinct, emus didn’t have any threat from any other predator. So, they never bothered to fly. Emus with waker flying disability would have been vanished due to dinosaurs. Still, in turn, they managed to survive with time and even reproduce, as there was no threat of dinosaurs to emus anymore after their extinction.
Emus are the second-largest birds after ostriches, which are native to Australia. Emus have wings, but still, they are restricted to flying. Emus were once able to fly, but gradually with time, they lost their power of flight, the reason being some evolutionary mutations. Another reason behind their inability to fly is the size of their wings, which are too short and not well-built to make them able to fly in the air.
Similar to emus, we have heard of ostriches as well, which also cannot fly despite having wings. By looking at the similarity, we can say that just like ostriches, emus’ heavyweight wings make them unable to fly. We have seen a bit of the reason above; however, the real reasons are more complex than this only factor.
According to a theory stated, a lack of predators and an abundance of food saw several birds fatten up following the extinction of dinosaurs, and those birds simply stopped bothering to take to the air. It is believed that scientists have also come up with a theory stating that the ancestors of modern flightless birds such as ostriches and emus were also flightless.
Reasons
The emu’s wings are so short, even smaller than wings of a crow. Their wings extend only up to 7 inches, which are too short for a bird of emus weight to make them fly. Their bodies’ plumage obscures their wings. The wings of the emu are not well-built to give them an upward force to fly. A bird needs to have a sharp pair of wings to give it enough strength without weighing them down to the ground.
However, emus cannot fly, but they can run very fast on the ground. The actual strength of an emu lies in its legs and not in its wings. He can catch a speed of 30-40 miles/hour when it needs to escape from any kind of hunt or danger like that. They do not need to run frequently for their food as they survive on bugs and vegetation only.
We may think that extra bodyweight of emu may be problematic for them, but in reality, it is not, as they don’t need to bother about flying, so the weight is not a real burden to them.
According to scientists, we may think of another real reason for emus inability to flight. The scientists say that the past generation of the emus was very lazy. At that time, the threat to emus was only from dinosaurs, along with some other powerful predators. But when dinosaurs became extinct, emus didn’t have any threat from any other predator. So, they never bothered to fly. Emus with waker flying disability would have been vanished due to dinosaurs. Still, in turn, they managed to survive with time and even reproduce, as there was no threat of dinosaurs to emus anymore after their extinction.