Was it awkward for lizards to be walking around with wings before they learned how to fly?
454285
depends on which lizard you refer to
274687
Wow, 5 people responded before me and never really answered your question.\n\nThe main question you asked was about "complex animals" compared to land plants. You were understanding this right.  Remember that those early plants were more similar to modern bryophytes (like mosses, liverworts and hornworts).  The vertebrates at that time were all sea creatures (very primitive fish-like).\n\nBy the time the land vertebrates appeared, large trees were abundant and so were insects.\n\nAlso, why do some people insist on using a book that says insects have 4 legs and calls bats birds as their science book?
154732
I'm afraid of flying insects with stingers-especially wasps\nand hornets. It dates back to my childhood,I got stung a few\ntimes. Lizards,snakes,spiders etc. have never particularly\nbothered me.
180348
FLY! And effortlessly... I've gotten used to walking, being in thee city...but flying around instead of walking is something I've wanted to do since I was a cub, lol...so unbearlike, right? It'd be cool and for some reason less energy-burning if there are wings for gliding..
364424
Most lizards have a characteristic called autotomy: they can lose a part of their tail (usually at times of danger from predators) as a defense mechanism and it grows back (however, the regenerated structure is not exactly the same as the original tail). They cannot grow other body parts back. \nThe ability to regenerate is present in most "lower" (as in having simpler organization) animals, but also in some vertebrates such as fish and amphibians. The acquisition or loss of this ability has to do with the evolutionary paths of each type of organism and thus your question does not have a simple answer. At a macromolecular/genetic level, we lack some genes (or they're inactivated) that are necessary for regeneration to occur.\nSome of these genes have been identified in animals that have regenerative ability:\nhttp://pda.physorg.com/lofi-news-genes-planarian-alvarado_3953.html
761221
Bird: How does the bird's vertebra indicate that it evolved to support flying? (Answer: The thoracic vertebrae are fused to provide a rigid upper shell to withstand the muscular forces of flight muscles. As partial compensation for this rigidity, birds have more neck vertebrae than many animals to provide enough flexibility to feed, groom, etc. See ref. 1.)\nSnake: How does the snake's vertebra indicate that it evolved to support slithering? (Answer: Snakes have a large number of vertebrae, which are connected together by ball-and socket joints. These characteristics allow extreme flexibility. Together with specialized muscles, the vertebra enable the snake to move with speed and agility. See ref. 2.)
653174
If I have it made such an impression I forgot about it.  But then, that would have been when dinosaurs roamed the earth...\nHowever, I do remember my kids walking in on THEIR parents accidentally.  But not since we put a lock on the door and didn't give them the key...
111767
Um. . . .they both have wings and they can fly. :)
446943
What are flys called when they lose their wings?\n\n\n\n"Walks"
390773
It's an example of a transition between lobe-finned fish and AMPHIBIAN vertebrates, not reptiles.  \n\n(Well, it is a reptile transition in the sense that it's part of the spectrum between fish and reptiles, but it's also part of the spectrum between fish and birds or fish and mammals, it just seems a bit forced to call it a fish/mammal transition to me.)\n\nMore importantly, it shows exactly the type of features scientists predicted it should have, confirming the most common theory about how vertebrates moved onto land.
1008368
With legs, they usually walk.  \n\nElsewise, they fly, crawl, or swim.\n\nDuh.
6433
The legs of a fly have a primary role of helping the fly to land and lift off, and also move about a little when its not flying. If the fly would not have wings, it would be able to move futher on its legs, but the mobility would be severly restricted because the legs haven't been used in that sense before. This fact is confirmed from experimentation done in around 2003, where a genetically mutated fly which didn't grow any wings tried to move solely on its legs.
1166384
It may be a Sagebush lizard or a Western fence lizard. Would have helped if I know which state you were from.
47737
Not just storks ... but migrating birds in general  usually fly in the "V" formation.  This has been studied by a lot of very educated people in many colleges and universities.  Aerodynamics is the best guess answer. Each bird taking advantage of the wing tip vortices of the uplifting air of the bird in front of it.  This updraft actually lifts the bird making it's flight a little easier.
5721
I think it may help to clarify what the other 2 posters have said, as they have 'clouded' the issue a bit:\n\nThey lack external ears, have a diapsid skull (two openings on either side), and posess a "parietal eye" on the top of their head. Other lizards also have this "third-eye," which contains a retina and is functionally similar to a normal eye, though the function has not been clearly recognized and a scale grows over it in adult tuataras.\n\nAs it contains an actual retna, it can infact see.  But, to what extent, who knows.
172776
The tail of lizards is an important element for locomotion and balance. These animals move by mean of undulations of their entire body axis (vertebral column), and the motions of the tail counteract those of the trunk.\nIn addition, most lizards are capable of autotomy, that is, they can shed their tail at need, usually when threatened by a predator or in other highly stressful conditions, and then grow a new tail. \nThis is achieved by means of special intravertebral fracture planes, that is, each of the autotomic vertebrae has a weak transversal plane through which it can break into two pieces. In addition, the tail muscles of the autotomic region are arranged in small "brick-like" packages that can become separated without much tissue damage; the blood vessels in the area also have the ability of closing and clotting rapidly so as to avoid excess blood loss.\nUnder stressful conditions, the animal will experience reflex contraction of those specialized muscles and a fragment of the tail will become separated from the rest of the body. This fragment continues to thrash and move for some minutes after autotomy, thus attracting the would-be predator while the lizard escapes to safety.\nAfterwards, a new tail will grow (this can take several months, according to the metabolic rate and general conditions of the individual); but this new tail does not have real vertebrae, only a rod-like support tissue. It usually has a blunt tip and different color/texture from the original tail. \nThere are _no_ autotomic vertebrae inside this new stump; therefore, the next autotomy will have to occur in vertebrae that are closer to the trunk. The number of these special vertebrae is limited, so the amount of autotomies is also limited. \nAutotomy is obviously advantageous as a means of escape. However, tail loss also implies a disadvantage, basically because: 1) as other users have answered, many lizards store fat supplies in the tail (although normally the basal part of the tail is not autotomic); 2)"growing back" a new tail requires more energetic resources that might have been used for other purposes; 3)until the new tail grows, locomotion may be somewhat impaired.\nAnd I'm leaving out other (e.g. social communication) uses of the tail.\nInterestingly, the tail won't grow back if the severance does not occur at the special fracture planes.
1086852
It is hard-wired into their brains but the younger birds start out by following their parents south and if birds are taken out of the wild at a young age and have never migrated a small glider type plane can be flown the the birds will follow so it can be learned too.