First, let's visit the bird area. You'll notice there are a lot of feathers in here. See, for thousands of years, people stared up at the sky with a tear in their eye, wishing they could fly. How was it, they wondered, that birds and bats could zoom and soar in the clouds, but people had to stay put on the boring, old ground?

The study of birds started in the 1700's and is called ornithology. (That's a big word! Try saying it three times fast.) "Ornith" means bird in Greek and any time you see "ology" at the end of a word, it means "the study of". The first thing the early ornithologists noticed was that birds have feathers. Feathers are made of keratin and are extremely light (you might even say they're "light as a feather"). Now, to demonstrate the idea that feathers might be the reason birds can fly and people cannot, my friendly Oompa Loompa in a chicken suit will flap his arms … uh, wings, and try to fly. Ready? … Up… Down …Up … Down… Well, that didn't work. It appears that feathers are not the reason birds can fly and people cannot.

Next, we'll examine the bird's wings. Ornithologists noticed that birds have wings and we don't. Not only that, the way birds move their wings seems to be the reason birds fly. If you flap your arms like this (flap, flap), you'll feel air whooshing around. Now if you twist your arms as you flap (flap, twist, flap, twist) you'll notice A LOT MORE AIR whooshing around. But, you could stand around all day flapping and twisting your arms, and you'd never get off the ground. So, it's not just feathers, and it's not just having wings to flap that allows birds to fly. Well, what about the bird's tail? All birds have tails that help them steer. But, there is a tail on the Oompa Loompa's chicken suit and he still can't fly. Well, it appears feathers, wings, and tails are not the only reason birds can fly and we cannot.

Next, let's visit the Skeleton Center. You'll notice we have many bird bones in here. That's because ornithologists started to notice that bird bones are very light and thin. Birds also have fewer bones than most animals. So, maybe this is the reason birds can fly and we can't. Let's test the idea. Over here, you'll notice a plate of fried chicken. This is my lunch. I will quickly eat it up (chew, chew, swallow) and now we have a plate of chicken bones. I will throw these light-weight bones up in the air and see if they fly. Ready! Go! (Thunk. Clunk. Thunk.) OK, OK, I was just being silly. The real reason birds fly and we don't is because of a combination of all these things -- light-weight bones and feathers, wings that are shaped in a special way (we'll learn more about that later), and tails for steering. (Maybe I should have eaten something else for lunch, since chickens can't fly anyway.)

Did you know that some animals that fly aren't birds? Well, come over to the Glider Arena and - oh - be careful! You almost stepped on a flying frog! And watch out for that flying fish over there! And could you please not feed the flying squirrels? It makes them hyper. Okay, this room is full of flying animals. By studying them, we've learned that there is a difference between "true flight" and "gliding flight". True flight is what birds do. They use their muscles and feathers and light bones and wings to push the air around. True flight means you can fly up and down. Gliding flight only goes down. So when you see a flying squirrel or frog, you should know that they aren't really flying. They have an extra layer of skin that usually attaches from their front arms to their back legs and make a little parachute. So when they jump, say from the top of a tree, they glide through the air down to the next branch, sometimes as far as the ground! Of course, fish don't have front and back legs, so flying fish use special fins that spread out as they jump out of the water and catch air, like parachutes. Other gliding animals are the Sugar Gliders from Australia (super cute, but sometimes a little stinky) and the flying lemur. By the way, birds usually glide quite a bit while they're flying. It saves energy!