10 Ways Humans Would Look If We Had Evolved Differently
Human Birds
Humans are notoriously different from birds. They belong to another evolutionary branch, and as such, they have very little in common with creatures like us.However, it is worth speculating on what would have happened if birds had evolved as the dominant species instead of humans—with the result being a hybrid between man and bird. What differences would this “human bird” have when compared to our current appearance?First, the human bird would be covered with feathers. (Hair or fur covering the body is a feature exclusive to mammals.) At the same time, the human bird would have bones that are almost hollow, it would barely have teeth, and its musculature would be much lighter than that of humans. Otherwise, the “bird-man” would be too heavy to fly.However, both the human brain and the flight mechanism would consume a lot of energy. So the bird-man could not have both virtues—it would have to choose between flying and being smart. To make matters worse, the development of tools would make the winged human become sedentary, flying less and less.As for its arms, there are two options. Either they would be replaced by wings with fingers, like those in the dinosaur genus Archaeopteryx, or the creature would retain both the arms and wings. In the latter case, its skeleton would probably undergo major modifications compared to the human skeleton.[6]With reduced flight ability, the human bird would be limited to living in the trees and going up and down by gliding. The weirdest thing of all is that this creature would lay eggs instead of giving birth to offspring like mammals do.Although the chance of birds evolving into humans was always impossible, this could change in the future. Scientists believe they can insert wings in human embryos once they decipher the genetic code of birds.
Humans are notoriously different from birds. They belong to another evolutionary branch, and as such, they have very little in common with creatures like us.However, it is worth speculating on what would have happened if birds had evolved as the dominant species instead of humans—with the result being a hybrid between man and bird. What differences would this “human bird” have when compared to our current appearance?First, the human bird would be covered with feathers. (Hair or fur covering the body is a feature exclusive to mammals.) At the same time, the human bird would have bones that are almost hollow, it would barely have teeth, and its musculature would be much lighter than that of humans. Otherwise, the “bird-man” would be too heavy to fly.However, both the human brain and the flight mechanism would consume a lot of energy. So the bird-man could not have both virtues—it would have to choose between flying and being smart. To make matters worse, the development of tools would make the winged human become sedentary, flying less and less.As for its arms, there are two options. Either they would be replaced by wings with fingers, like those in the dinosaur genus Archaeopteryx, or the creature would retain both the arms and wings. In the latter case, its skeleton would probably undergo major modifications compared to the human skeleton.[6]With reduced flight ability, the human bird would be limited to living in the trees and going up and down by gliding. The weirdest thing of all is that this creature would lay eggs instead of giving birth to offspring like mammals do.Although the chance of birds evolving into humans was always impossible, this could change in the future. Scientists believe they can insert wings in human embryos once they decipher the genetic code of birds.
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