Ratites (/ ˈ r æ t aɪ t s /) are a polyphyletic group consisting of all birds within the infraclass Palaeognathae that lack keels and cannot fly. [3] They are mostly large, long-necked, and long-legged, the exception being the kiwi , which is also the only nocturnal extant ratite.

Ratites have long, heavily muscled legs, which enable them to run at high speeds; they also use their legs for defense and offense, kicking forward, with cassowaries using both feet at once. Ratites lack a patella.

Ratites have long, heavily muscled legs, which enable them to run at high speeds; they also use their legs for defense and offense, kicking forward, with cassowaries using both feet at once. Ratites lack a patella.

Learn what makes a bird a ratite. They are flightless birds including the ostrich, cassowary, emu, rhea and kiwi.

Feb 6, 2017 · Moas and elephant birds are ratites, a group of bird that — paradoxically — found its evolutionary niche by abandoning the very essence of birdness, the ability to fly. With their extinction, two of the seven major ratite lineages were lost.

The ratites are a group of medium to large birds, most of which are flightless. Most of them, including the largest (moas and elephant birds) are now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum. In a flying bird the sternum anchors the wing muscles.

ratite, any bird whose sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored. All species of ratites are thus unable to fly. They are a peculiar and puzzling group, with anatomic anomalies.

Jan 1, 2011 · Ratites (ostrich, emu, rhea, cassowary, kiwi and tinamous) are large, flightless birds that have long fascinated biologists (Harshman et al. 2008). Their current distribution on isolated southern land masses is believed to reflect the break-up of the paleocontinent of Gondwana.

May 21, 2024 · Ratites are a family of flightless birds that includes ostriches, rheas, and emus, among others. They have a unique bone structure among birds that makes them unable to fly, as they lack the structure to which wing muscles attach in other birds, called a keel.

Jan 10, 2024 · Ratites are flightless birds characterized by their flat breastbones. While they lost their ability to fly, ratites compensated with adaptations like large size, powerful legs for running, and sharp claws for defense.