For those of you who aren't veterinarians and don't know this shit, did you know that birds cannot swallow without a gravity assist?
Yeah, they may be able to soar through the skies, but when it comes to swallowing, they're pretty useless because they have none of the esophageal musculature that mammals have to actively push food down to the stomach.
Which raises the interesting question about dinosaurs…
That's the reason NASA has never taken birds into space. No gravity, no swallowing.
So… that means dinosaurs didn't have a gag reflex either?
Yep, I'd heard that one before. It's been a long time since it has come in discussion, though, and it's still interesting to think about. There's more than one reason why Monkeys (and mammals) are a favored test animal.