I think it’s that they look both long and backwards.
I knew the reason was that they have an extra (sorta, read on) leg bone, the tarsus, that we don’t have. This makes their legs more Z shaped, compared to our 7 shaped legs.
What I recently learned though, is where that tarsus came from. The full name is the tarsometatarsus, which gives the clue.
Here are our bones. Look at all those separate bones and joints. If we go back and look at our proto-birds, sometimes called dinosaurs, we see a fairly similar build.
Birds need to stay as light as can be, so what do they do? They simplify that whole mess! Those tarsals and metatarsals fused, and became a single bone in each leg, the tarsometatarsus. Now look how sleek and efficient that looks!
Most times in normal scenarios, we don’t see the femurs, as they are tucked under the body and further obscured with all the feathers. When we see an owl run or stick its legs out like in the post’s photo, it’s like a whole extra third a set of legs appeared out of nowhere.
I’ve always found owl legs hilarious. They’re always so goofy.
I think it’s that they look both long and backwards.
I knew the reason was that they have an extra (sorta, read on) leg bone, the tarsus, that we don’t have. This makes their legs more Z shaped, compared to our 7 shaped legs.
What I recently learned though, is where that tarsus came from. The full name is the tarsometatarsus, which gives the clue.
Here are our bones. Look at all those separate bones and joints. If we go back and look at our proto-birds, sometimes called dinosaurs, we see a fairly similar build.
Birds need to stay as light as can be, so what do they do? They simplify that whole mess! Those tarsals and metatarsals fused, and became a single bone in each leg, the tarsometatarsus. Now look how sleek and efficient that looks!
Most times in normal scenarios, we don’t see the femurs, as they are tucked under the body and further obscured with all the feathers. When we see an owl run or stick its legs out like in the post’s photo, it’s like a whole extra third a set of legs appeared out of nowhere.