dinosaurs and birds

[Fraggle Rocker]

so they don't all have the same #?

It depends on how you count two toes fused into one. They show up in x-rays, just like your skull shows the faint joints between the bones that fused to comprise it.

The class of artiodactyl mammals (cows, pigs, giraffes, deer, hippos, sheep, camels, goats, etc.) and the class of perissodactyls (horses, rhinos, tapirs) are always referred to in English as "even-toed ungulates" and "odd-toed ungulates," respectively, even though all of their toes are fused into a single hoof.

So an aviculturist would probably say that an ostrich has two toes, whereas a zoologist would probably say four. Next time you meet one, ask him. I'm a little of both so I don't have an opinion.

 

[river-wind]

Orleander: morphologically, no, they don't have the same number of toes. Anatomically, they have the same toe bone structure, or at least (in the case of ostriches) they have remnants of the same bone structure evident.

Similarly, you do not have a tail, morphologically. But atomically, you and everyone else posting on this board do have an internal, atrophied tail bone structure.

 

[Orleander]

Orleander: morphologically, no, they don't have the same number of toes. Anatomically, they have the same toe bone structure, or at least (in the case of ostriches) they have remnants of the same bone structure evident.

Similarly, you do not have a tail, morphologically. But atomically, you and everyone else posting on this board do have an internal, atrophied tail bone structure.

thank you!!

 

[Burada]

What about squirrels?

 

[John Connellan]

What about squirrels?