![]() ![]() Their research shows that a “passively engaged gravitational stay apparatus” helps the birds support their weight and maintain balance while on one reed-thin leg. No animal was killed or harmed for the purposes of the study. Zoo Atlanta and Georgia Tech Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) approved all procedures using live animals. ![]() They also used two cadaver birds from the Birmingham Zoo and flamingo skeletons from the University of California at Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology. Surprisingly, Chang says, given how long the question about flamingos has been around, “there hasn’t been a whole lot of research done.” Others have suggested that the birds engage in this behavior to avoid muscle fatigue or to conserve body heat.Ĭhang and Ting studied live birds at the Zoo Atlanta flock, one of the largest breeding flocks of Chilean flamingos in the U.S. It’s precisely from these extreme examples in nature where you can really gain a lot of insight.” Flamingos aren’t the only birds that stand on one leg, he adds, but “the extreme example is the flamingo. “There’s something to be said for just scientific curiosity and learning how nature works,” he says. Potential applications stretch from better robotics, orthopedic braces, and artificial limbs, to more focused treatments for neurological or balance problems.īut Chang argues that simply providing clarity to long-standing questions about long-standing flamingos has great value as well. Their findings, published this week in Biology Letters, suggest a reason that differs from most previous suggestions: it’s about reducing muscular effort. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Tech who studies balance control in humans and mammals. “It’s a natural question.”īecause science has yet to provide a definitive answer, Chang and fellow researcher Lena Ting investigated how flamingos are able to stand and sleep on one leg so easily for so long. “Anytime I go to the zoo, I always hear a kid ask why or how they do that,” says Young-Hui Chang, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences who studies locomotion in animals from both a neurological and a biomechanical lens. When it comes to Big Questions About Birds, here’s one that rivals those about chickens crossing roads and that whole chicken-and-egg quandary: Why do flamingos stand on one leg? ![]()
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