How Do Birds Flap?

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This week we’re looking at the marvel of flight. We’ve seen that birds need complex feathers, a unique respiratory system, and hollow bones. But they also need a special muscle arrangement.

The wing flapping motion only happens because two muscles work together. One runs across the chest and attaches to the base of the breastbone. Another goes from there to a hole in one of the wing bones. Contracting these muscles flaps wings.

How could this system evolve? You need a special muscle setup with matching unique bones! Flight doesn’t point to random chance processes. Birds were made fully formed by God on day five.

Dig Deeper

• The Intricacies of Flight in the Natural World
• If It Looked Like a Bird and Flew Like a Bird . . . It Must Be a Dinosaur!