I also recently got frustrated looking at the Temple University mascot.
Owls attack with the talons in a 2x2 arrangement to maximize grabbing area, so the mascot’s toe positioning is sub-optimal. I expected better from a university.
yeah, it’d be way better if they did the feet right. actually, almost all drawings/depictions of owls have 3 toes on the front and 1 in the back, and because of that i didn’t know until i got really into owls that one of the toes can go to the back, making an X pattern
oh and since learning that, i’ve always wondered, are all owls’ feet like that or are there species that have feet more like an eagle’s (always 3 toes forward 1 backward)?
I think it’s actually the other way around. Owls are classified as zygodactyl, which is the 2x2 layout, but unlike other zygodactyl birds like woodpeckers and parrots, only the owls can swing the outer toes forward.
I’m pretty sure they’re all that way. I just checked the Ketupa genus owls, as they seem to have some less common traits, and I didn’t see anything saying they had different feet. Ask the pics I could find we’re all 2x2.
interesting. i did not know owls were that closely related to parrots and woodpeckers (or even the same about those two), and i didn’t know woodpeckers were 2x2 (i thought parrots and owls just got some convergent evolution)
but that makes a lot of sense. it’d be pretty hard for a bird to reevolve 3x1 feet. i previously thought the owls evolved 2x2 feet by themselves, so i also thought there could’ve been a group of owls that was outside the 2x2 group
i guess i just shouldve checked owl taxonomy and closely related groups lol
There are a number of toe arrangements, and they seem to develop from the niche the birds occupy. Like the woodpecker has the same 2x2 setup as the owl, but the woodpecker isn’t grabbing prey, but it’s hanging on vertical surfaces, and having that second toe going backwards, it gets a better grip on the tree. It sounds more like convergent evolution, since I don’t think owls seem very close to parrots, woodpeckers, cuckoos, or any of the other 2x2 birds.
Nightjars are thought to be owls’ closest relatives, and they have anisodactyl feet with the 3x1 configuration.
There’s a ton of reading just in bird feet that 8 never expected, but that’s probably my mistake, since bird feet have some of the jobs of our hands in addition to being specialized feet, so it’s no wonder there’s such an assortment of special adaptations.
oh my bad i thought zygodactyl was a taxonomic group lol
also according to wikipedia the closest relatives to owls are new world vultures, hawks, ospreys, and secretary birds:
falcons are pretty close relatives to parrots, so i think i misremembered and that’s one of the reasons i thought parrots and owls were closely related
nightjars are more closely related to potoos and frogmouths, and those 3 seem to just be species that convergently evolved to be like owls (or at least look like them)
My brain cries when I try to stare at all that Latin, but everything I search for about owls closest relatives has always returned the nightjars. I saw a few things saying the hawk/falcon relation was outdated, but genetics are revealing a bunch of surprises and causing lots of recasting of who’s related to who.
I like them all no matter who they’re related to! 😄
also it seems to be cross-eyed
Very true!
I also recently got frustrated looking at the Temple University mascot.
Owls attack with the talons in a 2x2 arrangement to maximize grabbing area, so the mascot’s toe positioning is sub-optimal. I expected better from a university.
yeah, it’d be way better if they did the feet right. actually, almost all drawings/depictions of owls have 3 toes on the front and 1 in the back, and because of that i didn’t know until i got really into owls that one of the toes can go to the back, making an X pattern
oh and since learning that, i’ve always wondered, are all owls’ feet like that or are there species that have feet more like an eagle’s (always 3 toes forward 1 backward)?
I think it’s actually the other way around. Owls are classified as zygodactyl, which is the 2x2 layout, but unlike other zygodactyl birds like woodpeckers and parrots, only the owls can swing the outer toes forward.
I’m pretty sure they’re all that way. I just checked the Ketupa genus owls, as they seem to have some less common traits, and I didn’t see anything saying they had different feet. Ask the pics I could find we’re all 2x2.
interesting. i did not know owls were that closely related to parrots and woodpeckers (or even the same about those two), and i didn’t know woodpeckers were 2x2 (i thought parrots and owls just got some convergent evolution)
but that makes a lot of sense. it’d be pretty hard for a bird to reevolve 3x1 feet. i previously thought the owls evolved 2x2 feet by themselves, so i also thought there could’ve been a group of owls that was outside the 2x2 group
i guess i just shouldve checked owl taxonomy and closely related groups lol
There are a number of toe arrangements, and they seem to develop from the niche the birds occupy. Like the woodpecker has the same 2x2 setup as the owl, but the woodpecker isn’t grabbing prey, but it’s hanging on vertical surfaces, and having that second toe going backwards, it gets a better grip on the tree. It sounds more like convergent evolution, since I don’t think owls seem very close to parrots, woodpeckers, cuckoos, or any of the other 2x2 birds.
Nightjars are thought to be owls’ closest relatives, and they have anisodactyl feet with the 3x1 configuration.
There’s a ton of reading just in bird feet that 8 never expected, but that’s probably my mistake, since bird feet have some of the jobs of our hands in addition to being specialized feet, so it’s no wonder there’s such an assortment of special adaptations.
oh my bad i thought zygodactyl was a taxonomic group lol
also according to wikipedia the closest relatives to owls are new world vultures, hawks, ospreys, and secretary birds:
falcons are pretty close relatives to parrots, so i think i misremembered and that’s one of the reasons i thought parrots and owls were closely related
nightjars are more closely related to potoos and frogmouths, and those 3 seem to just be species that convergently evolved to be like owls (or at least look like them)
My brain cries when I try to stare at all that Latin, but everything I search for about owls closest relatives has always returned the nightjars. I saw a few things saying the hawk/falcon relation was outdated, but genetics are revealing a bunch of surprises and causing lots of recasting of who’s related to who.
I like them all no matter who they’re related to! 😄