Birds

Respiratory System

Lungs - but not like mammal lungs

Description

Bird lungs are special, because they have an opening at each end. Human lungs are like balloons: new air comes in, gets used, and goes out the same way it entered. In bird lungs, new air comes in one end, and the used air goes out the other end! Special air sacs before the lungs store air before it's ready to enter the lungs, and air sacs after the lungs store air until it's ready to be breathed out.

The open-ended lungs and air sacs work together to allow birds to put fresh air through their lungs when they're breathing in and out! Humans can only get fresh air in their lungs when they breathe in.

Above is a simplified diagram of the bird respiratory system. The actual lung itself is the small, thin part between the two larger air sacs. As air passes through, oxygen is removed. In real life, air is continually passed through the lungs, but this diagram only shows one breath as it travels through the bird.

Neat Stuff

Bird lungs are much better at getting oxygen out of the air than human lungs. This is important for birds, because they use up a lot of energy when they fly, so their cells need more oxygen to get the energy out of the food they eat. Also, birds sometimes fly very high up, where there is very little oxygen in the air. When humans climb Mount Everest, they need oxygen tanks to help them get enough oxygen. Birds can fly up that high without any help, all because of their special lungs!