Ornithischians

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albaradru - 01 Mar 2005 00:28 GMT

I was looking at the skeleton of Gallus gallus (Chicken. Yum.) today
and I took special note of the pelvis and it's fusion. The ilium and
ischium seemed to be fused, as would be expected. But here is the
deal. The pubis was almost non-existant and was fused back into the
pelvis, pointing down. What is the evolutionary significance of this
fusion? Is it common in all birds? How is this hip related to the
ornithischian hip? Help!? I am doing a research project with the
argument that birds are dinosaurs. (Kind of)

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John Harshman - 01 Mar 2005 01:02 GMT

> I was looking at the skeleton of Gallus gallus (Chicken. Yum.) today
> and I took special note of the pelvis and it's fusion. The ilium and
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> ornithischian hip? Help!? I am doing a research project with the
> argument that birds are dinosaurs. (Kind of)

The reason they call ornithischians ornithischians is that their
pelvises resemble those of birds. Yes, all birds have backward-facing
pubes. However, birds are actually saurischians. The similarities are
convergent. Notice also that "ornithopod" means "bird-foot", but birds
are actually theropods, "beast-foot".

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Natural Science Forum / Biology / Paleontology / March 2005

Ornithischians