The shape of a bird's wing determines where it lives. University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Science. DOI 10.1098/rspb.2016.1922 ...

You can know a lot of things about birds just by the shape of their wings. A seafaring albatross, stretching out its sail-like airfoils, lives a very different life from a ground-dwelling antpitta ...

Bird wings, unlike stiff airplane wings, are flexible and change shape during flight. So, their geometry and wing outline may not tell the whole story of a particular flight style or environment ...

Bird wings, unlike stiff airplane wings, are flexible and change shape during flight. So, their geometry and wing outline may not tell the whole story of a particular flight style or environment ...

So even when the bird glides or soars, the wing shape helps keep it up in the air. When a bird isn’t flying, it folds its wings neatly and tucks them against its body, out of the way.

With a view to bringing shapeshifting wings for aircraft closer to reality, scientists are launching into the most detailed analysis of bird flight ever conducted.

“Previously we’ve shown that captivity can change the shape of orange-bellied parrot wings, which we suspected might make their migration flights more difficult”, said the sole author of the ...

Bird wings and legs evolve independently, while bat wing and leg proportions are integrated. Credit: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02572-9 ...