from the title I was hoping Fred Flintstone would be the one explaining it to me
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.
Enantiornithes is a huge family. Kinda suprising why they didn’t survive the meteor but birds did
A) incredible article, one of the few where I didn’t feel compelled to give up and find the underlying paper. Well written, beautiful diagrams, appreciably concise. Thanks for posting!
B) The image of ~starlings hanging out with dinosaurs blew my mind. Talk about an odd juxtaposition! But I’m no dinosaur nerd, and haven’t seen the new generation of shows.
C) I just have to nitpick this to defend my buddies:
Modern birds have some of the most advanced cognitive capabilities in the animal kingdom, comparable only with mammals.
The figures in the nature article are worth it. Even my non-nerdy wife thought it was kind of interesting.