Birds (Aves) exhibit exceptional and diverse locomotor behaviors, including the exquisite
ability to balance on two feet. How birds so precisely control their movements may be partly …

Birds are diverse and agile vertebrates capable of aerial, terrestrial, aquatic, and arboreal
locomotion. Evidence suggests that birds possess a novel balance sensing organ in the …

Animals need to accurately sense changes in their body position to perform complex
movements. It is increasingly clear that the vertebrate central nervous system contains a …

Birds are bipedal animals with a center of gravity rostral to the insertion of the hindlimbs.
This imposes special demands on keeping balance when moving on the ground. Recently …

The avian pelvis plays a critical role in the hindlimb function of birds, connecting the
hindlimb and axial skeleton and serving as the major attachment site for proximal hindlimb …

The origin of birds from their terrestrial antecedents was accompanied by a wholesale
transformation of their skeleton as they transitioned from a terrestrial to aerial realm. Part of …

The bony labyrinth of vertebrates houses the semicircular canals. These sense rotational
accelerations of the head and play an essential role in gaze stabilisation during locomotion …

Background The origin of powered avian flight was a locomotor innovation that expanded
the ecological potential of maniraptoran dinosaurs, leading to remarkable variation in …

In addition to a vestibular system, birds uniquely have a balance-sensing organ within the
pelvis, called the lumbosacral organ (LSO). The LSO is well developed in terrestrial birds …

Autotomy has evolved in many animal lineages as a means of predator escape, and
involves the voluntary shedding of body parts. In vertebrates, caudal autotomy (or tail …