bird-dino postures

uncinate process in birds

JR Codd 2010 Compar.Biochem.Physiol.A156:303-8
Uncinate processes in birds: morphology, physiology, and function

The avian respiratory system is remarkable in terms of its complexity &
efficiency. The evolution of this system with its unique lung morphology &
physiology has contributed to birds being one of the most successful
vertebrate lineages.
Despite holding the attention of the scientific community for a long time,
much remains to be discovered about the complexities of this system. Recent
advances have highlighted the important role that accessory breathing
structures, the uncinate processes, play in understanding how this system
functions & evolved.
Almost all spp of extant bird have uncinate processes extending from the
mid-point of the vertebral ribs. These processes are integral to the
mechanics of ventilation in birds, being active in both in- & expiration,
but also playing some role during locomotion.
The morphological variation in the uncinate processes suggests that the
constraints placed on the body by adaptations to different forms of
locomotion are key to understanding differences in how birds breathe.
These processes also occur in the theropod dinosaurs, providing further
evidence that they are the ancestors of modern birds, but also highlighting
the intrinsic flexibility in the ventilatory systems of these animals.
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death pose of long necked dinos & posture of resting geese: sleeping with head on back above abd. air sacs (parallel to backfloating & whale blowhole on back) while floating or on nest, the eyes see behind when awake but static, able to see predators which approach from behind. Uncinate processes probably evolved as air sac flexible cages allowing leaping-breathing like kangaroos) but bellows not deflating during sleep which would result in sinking.
kangaroo leap breathe

Amazing argonaut octopus: here

Human & elephants: big brains, O2, energy

The Brain: relative size, speed & complexity of sensory system (including intra-specific communication): oxygen as catalyst, food as fuel

On elephant and human brains, summarized from Not Exactly Rocket Science

Both humans and elephants show both semi-aquatic and terrestrial foraging traits, throw stones, manipulate branches or sticks, squirt water, live relatively long lives, have strong social behavior, have generally low rates of mutation yet high rate of mutations among specialized amino acids involved in "aerobic energy metabolism (AEM)" genes - which govern how mitochondria metabolise nutrients in food, in the presence of oxygen.

We already knew that the evolution of AEM genes has accelerated greatly since our human ancestors split away from those of other monkeys and apes (highly beneficial to a part-time sessile-benthic submersed forager (human ancestor, elephant ancestor) which needs both apneic and aerobic capability, but not a full-time pelagic dive chaser (dolphin) which needs maximal apneic (anaerobic) capability, nor a part-time wetland floating-food forager (congo swamp gorilla) which keeps its face always above water surface and so lacks apneic capability while not transiting far habitually so no selection for aerobic endurance.

"While other mutations were reshaping our brain and nervous system, these altered AEM genes helped to provide our growing cerebral cortex with much-needed energy.
And sure enough, elephants have more than twice as many genes with high ratios of non-synonymous mutations to synonymous ones than tenrecs do, particularly among the AEM genes used in the mitochondria. In the same way, humans have more of such genes compared to mice (which are as closely related to us, as tenrecs are to elephants). Overall, his conclusion was clear - in the animals with larger brains, a suite of AEM genes had gone through an accelerated burst of evolution compared to our mini-brained cousins. Six of our AEM genes that appear to have been strongly shaped by natural selection even have elephant counterparts that have gone through the same process.

Goodman's next challenge is to see what difference the substituted amino acids would have made to us and elephants and whether they make our brains more efficient at producing aerobic energy. He also wants to better understand the specific genes that have been shaped the convergent evolution of human and elephant brains over the course of evolution."
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Both elephants and humans are very water-dependent and not well conserving of metabolic fluids (unlike full-time savanna/marine dwellers), moving from waterhole/lagoon to waterhole/lagoon, foraging opportunistically along the way.
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Elephant ancestors were semi-aquatic - Telegraph
semi-aquatic ancestors of elephants
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Tiny brains

Tiny brains: "Insects may have tiny brains, but they can perform some seriously impressive feats of mental gymnastics. According to a growing number of studies, some insects can count, categorize objects, even recognize human faces — all with brains the size of pinheads. Despite many attempts to link the volume of an animal's brain with the depth of its intelligence, scientists now propose that it's the complexity of connections between brain cells that matters most...

Whales, with brains that weigh up to 20 pounds and have more than 200 billion neurons, are no smarter than people, with our measly 3-pound brains that have just 85 billion neurons. Instead of contributing intelligence, big brains might just help support bigger bodies, which have larger muscles to coordinate [Larger muscles aren't significant, see large herbivore dinosaurs with tiny brains] and more sensory information coming in.

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An islanded goat evolved coldbloodedness and delayed life span and small brain/eyes:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/13/0813385106.abstract

Some animals stranded on resource-poor islands shrink size and develop lethargic metabolism while absorbing sunlight (Galapagos tortoises), others adapt to a shore-based lethargy & active aquatic lifestyle with large brain/eyes (seals, sea lions).

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Discussion on baby crying relative to mother tongue:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1869
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Sports competition & aggression, instinct vs control
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/sports/22brain.html?em
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Brain and nerves slideshow at:
here

Hominid Brain to Body size: Encephalization Quotient, estimated diet

5.8 Homo sapiens - grain-meat-nut-fruit-herb/tuber-seafood-eater, boats, cooking
4.0 Homo erectus (late) - berry/nut-tuber-seafood-meat-eater, simple spears-axes
3.3 Homo erectus (early) - berry/nut/tuber-seafood-eater, sticks-pebbles
3.1 H/A habilis - mixed diet? -nut-fruit-invertebrate eater?
2.9 Australopithecus robustus - tuber-nut-berry-herb eater
2.0 Pan t. (chimpanzee) - fruit-honey-termite-meat-nut eater
1.7 Gorilla g. (gorilla) - herb-fruit-hydrocharis eater

Humboldt Natural History Museum closure

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2009/08/07/hsu-natural-history-museum-close/

Local (Humboldt county) North Coast Natural History Museum, associated with Humboldt State University, may be soon closing. They've had a good exhibit on ancient hominids, and always whale fossils and various coastal species.

Being right on the Pacific coast and Redwood forest and linked to HSU marine/envirinmental/forestry studies. A small museum, nothing fancy. This area is economically depressed but ecologically wealthy.

Sociopolitical economic freeze,
Priorities and opportunities,
Sparks blowing in a hot breeze,
Halt the growing of li'l trees.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~natmus/
Introduction

http://savethenorthcoastnhm.org/index.php?q=civicrm/contribute/transact&reset=1&id=3&widgetID=1
If you can and wish to donate some spare funding

[The ARC has no direct affiliation with the museum, but is considering a potential link via ARC-AID-A, a not-for-profit program being considered.]

http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=243
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http://www.krisweb.com/krishumboldtbay/krisdb/html/krisweb/whats_new.htm

KRIS Humboldt Bay
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Not referring to the Humboldt University museum in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt Univ.
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I rarely give a moments thought to political rhetoric, but this seemed appropriate in today's global sociopolitical climate:

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences,

we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace".

US President Barack Obama

On Bagpipes and Blowguns: Respiration at waterside

On Bagpipes & Blowguns
[Updated as of Aug. 31, 09 with addition on mumps, omnivory & air sac transition to diving]

Respiration in surface float feeding vs deep benthic diving

Float/surface foragers have a bagpipe-like system of breathing & vocalizing
The lungs and/or the air sac are always aerated (buoyant), nostril-up or closed

Dive/benthic foragers have a blowgun-like system of breathing & vocalizing
The lungs and/or the blood/muscle are oxygenated, nostril-down or closed

This is parallel in: [surface vs benthic foraging]
lily pad sitting frogs vs deep sub aquatic frogs
surface foraging right whales vs benthic foraging sperm whales
nostril-up wading reindeer/caribou vs nostril-down moose/muntjac
nostril-up gorillas/chimps vs nostril-down humans

Nostril-up usually indicates laryngeal/throat air sac (frog/gorilla/chimp)
Nostril-down usually indicates lack of throat sac (human/sea otter/nasalis)
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Allopatric speciation in humans and chimpanzees:
http://www.mailund.dk/index.php/2009/08/26/patterns-of-autosomal-divergence-between-the-human-and-chimpanzee-genomes-support-an-allopatric-model-of-speciation/
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090828/full/news.2009.870.html?s=news_rss

Hominoid to human: From sit-float to backfloat to boat
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2009/04/re-from-sit-float-feeding-to-backfloat.html

The link from laryngeal air sac inflated sit-floating hominoids 20ma to forage diving - backfloating humans 1ma, connecting mumps, milk, weaning, hydrodynamics.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/53637

I think human laryngocoeles indicate at least a small throat air sac ancestrally (like dolphins). I doubt they had very large air sacs equal to large adult male gorilla. Human females in some areas low in Iodine can develop goiters, there may be a link, since the thyroid cartilage is adjacent. Goiters are usually mild, but can become very large. I've never heard of any non-human hominoid having a goiter. Both male and female apes have air sacs, only males may have huge ones.

We know that 3 year old Selam (dikik-1) of about 3ma had a hyoid bone (tongue base bone) indicating a laryngeal air sac, we don't know her exact species, though similar to Lucy the Apith afarensis. The hyoid is a small weak bone, usually it breaks down long before the skull does. The air sac itself doesn't last long at all. All Genus Homo hyoids found lack air sac indications, which fits with diving/submerged crouching but not much arboreal-terrestrial-swamp mix. Human ancestors after gorilla, chimps split didn't stay in wetlands, they were somewhere else, no more upright sit-floating. Most likely seashore beaches and no more thick forest canopy.

The correlation of fused tail bone and enlarged throat air sac is strong in non-quadruped tetrapods. Waterside foragers which don't dive tend to have shortened tails, whether they have air sacs or long prehensile nose-lip tools. I think our ancestors changed from sit-floating in lukewarm brackish water to backfloating in sunwarmed saltwater with face submerged, so air sacs became disadvantageous and the male beard became fuller, possibly females had slight goiters, possibly post-weaned kids had mild mumps swellings before puberty (post-milk, chewing-salivation immuno-reaction, triggered by contagious mumps
virus which might otherwise be present but non-infectious?).

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/53638

More on mumps, milk, air sacs, goiter, saliva, defensins:

Gorillasw are herbivores, they get their protein from floating herbs. A mother gorilla and mother rabbit both feed their infants fecal pellets, I think deer also do this, to provide symbiotic gut bacteria and pre-digested plant material and probably some maternal hormone and immuno-defensins. Carnivores and omnivores don't do this. Instead they chew, partly swallow, then regurgitate the food for the infant (birds and wolves). Human mothers just chew and spit out some foods, Marc has noted that kissing may have begun this way ancestrally,
notably some tribes don't kiss but do alternatively rub noses, foreheads or cheeks.

Pre-birth, fetus gets food and defensins via blood.
Post-partum, newborn gets food and defensins via milk.
Human babies at weaning get food chewed by the mother, mixing her saliva containing defensins (anti-biotics & pro-biotics).

So I think that mumps and probably goiters only originated after the move from fresh-brackish wetland herbivory float-sit-foraging to increased upright submersed crouch-plucking lily seeds and invertebrates and early shallow diving.

So in Genus Homo (and maybe only partially in Genus Pan, see bushbaby spearing by female fertile chimps) there is a combined correlation of increased omnivorous nutrition, salivary defensin transmittance at weaning, improved submerged hydrodynamic form of throat area but male-only beards, reduced plant protein consumption but still Vit C dependence on fruits-plants so PTC gene still selected for, contagious but mild form of mumps after weaning but before puberty, mild form of goiter hypothyroidy in fertile females but not
pre-pubertal females or males, effect of osteoporosis in elder females(?), weaned children chewing more, activating salivary glands, but also suction feeding at puberty (raw oyster as aphrodisiac).

So, I think the early speculation that mumps correlates to the diving transition is further confirmed. The loss of the laryngeal air sac and AHV herbivory resulted in increased general diet including seafood high in Iodine and Omega 3 fatty acids, supplementing shore foods, with effects on jaw, dentition, tongue, larynx, facial hair, "childhood diseases". (Chicken pox may correlate to hair loss or sun UV or eccrine sweating protection in some way.)

(Marc V. had the idea about the goiter-hydrodynamic-diet-temperature link.)

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Air sac & tidal lung breathing and buoyancy in dinosaurs, birds, crocs & snakes
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/07/birds_cannot_be_dinosaurs.php#c2023608

"mauka to makai" Hawaiian for 'inland to oceanside' is a science/nature/marine blog
http://maukamakai.wordpress.com/

http://underwater-society.org/
http://www.usfreediving.org/freediving-gs-faq.htm
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Laryngospasm & Shallow Water Blackout: When divers attempt long dives, they may run out of oxygen, which causes SWBO and associated laryngospasm (safety closure of larynx at glottis valve). The diving buddy needs to recover the unconscious diver, get them to the surface, and if the diver does not awaken within a few seconds, do the BTT: Blow (remove mask) across the eyelids, Tap the cheek, Talk to wake up the diver. The eyelids link to the trigeminal nerve, the cheeks to the facial nerve, the ears to the auditory nerve. The BTT informs the diver that oxygen conservation is completed and to breathe. Presumably in ancient human divers, sunlight in the eyes did the same thing.

Surf Diving Dolphins

How the pros do it!

Melville's classic dilemma

Captain Ahab (man) vs Moby Dick (whale) conflict resolution

Today, the battle is "crisis of the commons", where people keep dumping pollutants into the sea and overharvesting from the sea without regard for it's ecological limits. No one owns the oceans, and because they have currents moving materials around like the winds, a different type of ownership/stewardship system is required, different from land based systems, or else the oceans will be degraded.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/science/19fish.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

Birth of baby whale

The umbilical cord has a weak part which snaps, normally tail-first birth, the newborn rises to the surface.

Hat tip to PZ Myers at Pharyngula blog.

Orangutans at waterside, laryngeal air sacs

Update 03/2010: Orangutan orphans in water
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/orang-utan-water/1
Face always kept above water surface with throat air sac inflated while nose breathing.
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Orangutan protects human from crocodile:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-saved-by-an-orangutan-821624.html


You can protect orangutans from extinction:
Sumatra http://www.orangutans-sos.org/

Borneo http://redapes.org%20/



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_page_id=1965&in_article_id=562236


"Swimming" orangutan, note the throat-neck, likely the bare skin is slightly swollen due to laryngeal air sacs inflated, used when vertical floating or surface sculling with head above water.

Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear (likely bamboo, note the nodes [click to enlarge photo]). See here for article on fishing macaque monkeys fishing monkeys


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3828123.ece

Naturalists were shocked to see the apes go across a river to gain access to some of their favourite fruits at a conservation refuge on Kaja island in Borneo.

Orangutans at Runga river pallas island orphan orangutan sanctuary seen entering water for sweet corn cobs, splashing. No crocs in that area. Probably not swimming. link

http://redapes.org/news-updates/leila-the-orangutan-drowns-in-german-zoo/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/740542/Suyria-Florida-ape-Baby-orangut\
an-is-king-of-the-swimmers.html

http://redapes.org/voices-from-the-field/any-mother-will-swim-to-save-her-child/
http://www.orangutans.com.au/Orangutans-Survival-Information/Orangutans-swim-to-\
safety.aspx

The more stories and "almost swimming' photos, the more doubt arises.
Wading? Yes. Vertical floating? Possible, but probably only if learned in
shallow wetland first. Swimming horizontally? No, no clear evidence of that. Can't blame the folks there for making a fuss about it though, the forest is being destroyed so quickly for oil palm plantations and lumber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISScU6W1vIg


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The bottom photo is of two siamang gibbons (lesser apes) which frequently call loudly with inflated air sacs. I hypothesize that ancient hominoids lived in tidal rainforests (estuarboreal), and enlarged throat air sacs were selected (like in frogs) for better vertical flotation and vocalization. Human ancestors remained at the tidal shores but moved from these dense mangroves (per MV) to open shores diving/backfloating at lagoon reefs for shellfish etc. while the ape ancestors followed rivers inland to more arboreal and less aquatic habitat. Humans today do not normally have laryngeal air sacs, however trumpet blowers and glass blowers sometimes develop laryngocoels which are pathological laryngeal air sacs.

The morphology of all extant apes (except the small gibbons) and the skeletal fossils of Lucy & Selam (Australopithecus afarensis) possessing hyoid bones indicate enlarged laryngeal air sacs, while those of Homo neandertalensis and ancient Homo sapiens do not.



Background: Laryngocoele/laryngocele/laryngeal air sac

A laryngocele is usually a cystic dilatation of the laryngeal saccule. The etiology behind its occurrence is still unclear, but congenital and acquired factors have been implicated in its development [1,2]. Laryngoceles appear to be an atavistic remnant from the higher apes (DD: correction, higher apes are not our ancestors, hominoids are ancestral to both Homo and extant apes), particularly those who use their arms with the thoracic cage fixed whilst swinging through the trees (DD: addendum, vertical climbing/floating/wading with arms holding vegetation). ... the laryngocele could have been caused by prolonged and repeated valsalva... the increased air pressure in the larynx may make an already existing laryngocele manifest [1].

Congenitally, the laryngeal saccule is a remnant corresponding to the lateral laryngeal air sacs of the higher anthropoid apes, which may on occasion, manifest suddenly in response to pressure caused by coughing, straining at stool, or trumpet playing (i.e. valsalva maneuvers [used in diving to equalize middle ear pressure]). An acquired laryngocele may develop when the laryngeal ventricle becomes functionally obstructed as a result of an increase in intraglottic pressure, e.g. excessive coughing, playing a wind instrument or obstruction of appendicular ostium [1,2].

Three types of laryngoceles are described. An internal laryngocele is confined to the interior of the larynx and extends posterosuperiorly into the false vocal cord and the aryepiglottic fold; this type appears on laryngoscopy as a smooth swelling of the supraglottis. An external laryngocele extends superiorly to appear laterally in the neck through the opening in the thyrohyoid membrane for the superior laryngeal nerve and vessels; these clinically present as a swelling in the neck at the level of the hyoid bone anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The simultaneous existence of both features is termed a combined laryngocele [1-4].

The simple laryngocele is an uncomplicated air-filled dilatation of the appendix of the laryngeal ventricle.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2482/6/14

Laryngeal air sac in whales, function: Full size right whales forage at the water surface, swim slower than human sport swimmers, and are the fattest whales (float at the surface when dead, which is why whalers called them "right whales"). Pygmy right whales are far less fatty due to their small size and metabolism, so their laryngeal air sac adds buoyancy when foraging on krill copepods near the surface. Apes in shallow water generally seek surface Aquatic Herbaceous Vegetation (AHV) (see the gorilla videos) and only seek bottom foods (water bugs under rocks/leaves) while wading in ankle-deep water. Human ancestors at seashores were tide-affected, and foraged for food from the shallows to perhaps 30+m deep. Because they were enveloped in a thin layer of buoyant thermoinsulative skin fat, denser bones were selected for, bringing the body to neutral buoyancy in seawater (similar to sea otters and walruses).

update: bowhead whales also surface feed and have lar. air sacs, AFAICT no other whales have lar. air sacs and do not typically feed at the surface.

So, bowhead whales, pygmy right whales and apes forage near the water surface and possess laryngeal air sacs; while (ancestral) humans, sea otters, blue whales forage near the sea bottom and lack laryngeal air sacs.

Air sac size quite small (though this is a small whale), compare to 1 liter air sac in orangs or 20-50 liter pharyngeal air sac in walrus. Why did Homo lose the laryngeal air sac? Switch to humming type speech and backfloating and addition of subcutaneous fat layer and stop climbing?



(Stranded) Pygmy right whale dissection, showing lungs and laryngeal air sac at left.
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/category/pygmy-right-whale/%20

















Gorilla foraging in wetland with partly inflated laryngeal air sac:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=gorilla&view=detail&id=F3C63788AE6768B1E99B65DFE64B1D105D87E520&first=0&qpvt=gorilla&FORM=IDFRIR

Note gorilla posture, red scalp, air sac, water just below shoulders.

upright posture - moroto/proconsul aquarboreal climbing/slow brachiating/wading/floating/walking/hanging

red scalp - post-hylobatid hominoid canopy woven nesting mimicry of raptor, grabbing hook-like hand, cooing infant (became hooting in large arboreals), human preemies have lanugo from eyebrows to scalp, which when pulled forward in surprise (eyebrow flash/frown) (or sun avoidance without protruding brows) becomes danger sign to raptor from above, evolutionarily later lost when brain-skull-protruding jaws enlarged.

air sac - visible in photo to the right of the sunlit hair, to left of throat, it is convex ( rather than concave )
due to partly inflated air sac. Human throat would show concave except at adams apple.

water - high enough to give flotation (of face) an advantage

Teeth & Armor Speculations

[further discussion on this at:]
http://forums.deeperblue.net/674527-post20.html

Introversion of external hair (armor) to internal "teeth"

Baleen whales (blue, humpback, right whales) developed their baleen (whalebone stringy teeth) on the upper jaw, because their fish & mollusc eating ancestors had had walrus-like mustache whiskers which gradually migrated from the upper lip into the upper gums (over a period of a million years), changing from nerve-rich sensory bristles to long net-like filters, straining krill and small fish while allowing water to escape the mouth. (This is one of my hypotheses, haven't seeen any confirmation from others.)

Extroversion of internal teeth to external scales (armor):

Lamphrey (and hagfish?) types lack jaws, but have replaceable teeth which are used to grasp. Is it possible that fish scales derived from multiple teeth replacing (like in sharks, but non-jawed) in a previously non-scaled lamphrey-like ancestor? Various fish scales do resemble teeth in some way, although many have become ultra-smooth for high-speed hydrodynamics. Do fish embryos develop their scales in a cephalo-caudal direction starting at the head? Do primitive scaled fish have more dental-like scales?
Is this a new idea, or has anyone heard of it before? (This is another hypothesis)

Anyway, just seems cool that the opposite actions may have happened in fish and whales.

[Now consider that birds have feathers, which have bloodflow in the plume, do feathers derive from vestigial teeth in early aves which were developing beaks and bills and reducing their ancestral dentition? Are feathers malformed teeth with roots? Where did the beak come from? I don't know.]


DDeden
__________________
"Dive well and come up for more"

The-Arc-of-a-Diver: http://the-arc.wikispaces.com/ / http://the-arc-ddeden@blogspot.com

Whaling caused penguin diet change

When whale hunting began using large crews, ships and equipment, the reduced number of whales consumed much fewer krill (shrimp), so while fishing reduced fisheries stocks, krill stocks rose, so penguins switched their diet from fish to krill in some areas.

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070709/full/070709-1.html