The dove’s skeleton, muscles and the plumage lab

The dove’s skeleton consists of the skull, vertebral column, wing and leg skeletons, and the shoulder and pelvic girdles. Air fills the hollow tubular bones, so the skeleton is very light, and fusion of bones makes it strong. The skull has a rounded braincase, large eye sockets and jaws turned into a horny beak; there are no teeth and only the lower jaw moves. The neck vertebrae are many and movable: the bird turns its head almost backward and cleans its feathers or pecks food without moving the body. The chest vertebrae are fixed; the lumbar, sacral and front tail vertebrae fuse into one complex bone (the synsacrum), and the last tail vertebrae also fuse into a small bone that supports the tail feathers. Vertebrae, ribs and breastbone form the rib cage; the breastbone’s widened boat-like keel anchors the wing muscles. The shoulder girdle has the coracoid, shoulder blade and collarbone; the collarbones join at their lower ends into a wishbone. The wing has one upper-arm bone, two forearm bones and a fused hand bone, with only three digits, which makes the hand strong. The pelvic bones are fixed to the vertebral column. The leg has a stout thigh, a lower leg, a foot bone formed by several fused bones, and toe bones; the foot bone holds the body up and softens the shock of landing. The breast muscles are extremely strong – a large share of all muscle mass. They run from the keel to the upper-arm bone and lower the wing when they contract; the muscles under them raise the wing. Leg tendons are joined to the toes: when the bird perches the joints bend and the tendons tighten the toes by themselves, so it does not fall even in sleep.