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Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence

(www.cam.ac.uk)
124 points gmays | 2 comments | 18 Nov 24 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.555s | source
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Sniffnoy ◴[18 Nov 24 21:32 UTC] No.42177310[source]▶
Reading this, I had to wonder what was "opposite" about these "opposite birds". Apparently it's how the shoulder blade (scapula) connects to the coracoid bone (a bone not present in therian mammals). From Wikipedia's article on Enantiornithes:

> Specifically, in the Enantiornithes, the scapula is concave and dish-shaped at this joint, and the coracoid is convex. In modern birds, the coracoscapular joint has a concave coracoid and convex scapula.

replies(1): >>42177788 #
1. abc_lisper ◴[18 Nov 24 22:27 UTC] No.42177788[source]▶
Enantiornithes is a huge family. Kinda suprising why they didn’t survive the meteor but birds did
replies(1): >>42179644 #
2. fsckboy ◴[19 Nov 24 02:47 UTC] No.42179644[source]▶
>Almost all [Enantiornithes] retained teeth and clawed fingers on each wing, but otherwise looked much like modern birds externally

I must say, I don't miss them.