The rich variety in shapes of the eggs that birds lay - elliptical, pointy, spherical - seems to be linked to how well a given bird flies, researchers report.
The study released Thursday in the US journal Science stems from the most extensive research yet on a mystery that has flummoxed biologists for centuries.
“In contrast to classic hypotheses, we discovered that flight may influence egg shape. Birds that are good fliers tend to lay asymmetric or elliptical eggs,” said Mary Caswell Stoddard, a biologist at Princeton University and one of the lead authors of the study.
Another finding is that the flexible inner membrane of the egg, not the hard outshell, is what generates the diversity of eggs out there in nature.
Until now, scientists have put forth a variety of theories about the variety of egg shapes. One says that the place where a bird nests is what determines the egg shape.
This line of thinking held that birds that nest near a cliff often lay eggs that are cone-shaped so that if they roll, they do so in a tight circle and do not fall off the precipice. Read More.
The study released Thursday in the US journal Science stems from the most extensive research yet on a mystery that has flummoxed biologists for centuries.
“In contrast to classic hypotheses, we discovered that flight may influence egg shape. Birds that are good fliers tend to lay asymmetric or elliptical eggs,” said Mary Caswell Stoddard, a biologist at Princeton University and one of the lead authors of the study.
Another finding is that the flexible inner membrane of the egg, not the hard outshell, is what generates the diversity of eggs out there in nature.
Until now, scientists have put forth a variety of theories about the variety of egg shapes. One says that the place where a bird nests is what determines the egg shape.
This line of thinking held that birds that nest near a cliff often lay eggs that are cone-shaped so that if they roll, they do so in a tight circle and do not fall off the precipice. Read More.