One Leg is Better Than Two
I’ve long known that flamingos tend to balance on one leg, but I had no idea about the mechanics behind it all. Nor did I realize that what I always thought was a flamingo’s knee was actually its ankle.
Why Flamingos Are More Stable on One Leg Than Two is a short (but fascinating) article. Here’s one of my favorite moments:
When they raise a leg, their body weight shifts in a way that naturally stabilizes the joints of their standing limb, so they can remain upright without any muscular activity. They can sleep like that. And as Chang and Ting found, they can even keep balanced when dead. You can pose a flamingo cadaver on one leg, and leave it there.
There are a lot of really fun, quotable moments in the article, and it’s worth a read. Though I will say that the one pullquote used is a horrible tease, and when it finally shows up… it shows up at the (ahem) end.
I can only hope that there’s another article coming soon, as a follow-up.
Related:
Flamingo Girl
Driving Miss MoonDragon
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