Page 14 - BBC Wildlife - August 2017 UK
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WILD NEWS



         DISCOVERIES




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                                                                                                        STUART
                                                                          he animal kingdom.
         The latest in scientific research                  from all over th                             BLACKMAN






































                                                                                                     Flamingos are able
                                                                                                     to stand and sleep
                                                                                                     on one leg for long
          Q BIRDS                                                                                      periods of time.

          ONEENERGYSAVINGSOLUTION


          FOR FLAMINGOS, WHEN IT COMES TO HOW MANY LEGS YOU STAND ON, LESS IS MORE.

                 hy do flamingos     sense,” Young-Hui   DID YOU KNOW?  though, they have  the classic flamingo posture,
                 stand on one leg?   Chang of the Georgia              to work harder to   as Chang discovered when he
                                                         Q Despite their
         WAs the joke goes,          Institute of Technology,  superficial  keep their balance.  tried it on a whim. “Here we
          it’s because, if they stood on  USA, told BBC Wildlife.  resemblance to  “The biomechanics  have a non-living animal able to
          no legs they’d fall over. But  “Still, many bird  herons, storks and  are such that when  stand on one leg. Obviously, if
          biologists are more interested  species are known to  cranes, flamingos  they stand on one  it’s not alive, then the muscles
                                                         are most closely
          in why they don’t stand on  stand on one leg, even           leg, they become very  are not activated,” he says.
                                                         related to grebes, a
          two legs and, according to  those in very warm  group so specialised  stable and are able to  Now the challenge is to
          new research, the answer   climates that do not  for life in water that  maintain that posture  identify the precise features of
          is similar – that, too, would  stand in water.”  they struggle on land  without activating  the flamingo’s skeleton that
                                                         using all the legs
          make standing up harder.    Chang and his                    muscle,” says Ting. “If  permit the effortless balancing
                                                         available to them.
           The standard explanation for  colleague Lena Ting           they deviate from that  act. Ultimately, that might
          why flamingos and other birds  stood flamingos on            posture to two legs,  inform the design of artificial
          such as ducks and pigeons  pressure plates that detect  that no longer holds. It’s very  limbs and support aids for
       Paul Hobson/naturepl.com  one leg is that they save heat by  adjustments. This revealed  posture that can support their  says Chang.
          routinely rest and even sleep on
                                                                                           people with balance disorders,
                                                                posture-specific, a one-legged
                                     sway and other postural
          tucking the other one snugly up
                                                                body weight.”
                                     that they can maintain a one-
                                                                  So effective is it that even
                                     legged stance with little, if any,
          among the feathers.
                                                                                           SOURCE Biology Letters
              BBC Wildlife
          14 “Logically, that would make  muscular effort. On two legs,  dead birds could be posed in  LINK http://bit.ly/2t8abZb  August 2017
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