Despite their gift of flight, when negotiating a steep incline birds have often been seen to run with the aid of flapping (scientifically termed Wing-Assisted Incline Running or WAIR) rather than simply flying to the top. A recent study has found that flap running is highly energy efficient, using a minuscule less than 10% of the energy that would be required to fly up the same angle. Flap running also has other interesting functional and evolutionary implications: it may be a key stage in strengthening flight muscles in young birds - such as the goslings pictured - to prepare for their first take-off, beginning on shallow gradients and moving up to steep inclines, and could also be a major component in the evolution of flight between terrestrial dinosaurs and modern birds. Ref: Jackson B. E.,  Tobalske B. W. & Dial K. P. (2011) The broad range of contractile behaviour in the avian pectoralis: functional and evolutionary implicatons. Journal of Experimental Biology 214 2354-2361 [link] 

Despite their gift of flight, when negotiating a steep incline birds have often been seen to run with the aid of flapping (scientifically termed Wing-Assisted Incline Running or WAIR) rather than simply flying to the top. A recent study has found that flap running is highly energy efficient, using a minuscule less than 10% of the energy that would be required to fly up the same angle. Flap running also has other interesting functional and evolutionary implications: it may be a key stage in strengthening flight muscles in young birds - such as the goslings pictured - to prepare for their first take-off, beginning on shallow gradients and moving up to steep inclines, and could also be a major component in the evolution of flight between terrestrial dinosaurs and modern birds. 

Ref: Jackson B. E.,  Tobalske B. W. & Dial K. P. (2011) The broad range of contractile behaviour in the avian pectoralis: functional and evolutionary implicatons. Journal of Experimental Biology 214 2354-2361 [link] 

Source: Flickr / davemorris

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