We also share with birds similar ways of meeting nature’s challenges, which we’ve arrived at through very different evolutionary paths. It’s called convergent evolution, and it’s rampant in the natural world. The convergent shape of wings in birds, bats, and the reptiles known as pterosaurs results from the problems posed by flight. To meet the challenges of filter feeding, creatures as far apart on the tree of life as baleen whales and flamingos show striking parallels in behavior, body form (large tongues and hairy tissues known as lamellae), even body orientation during feeding. As
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