Study Finds Most Bird Wings Miss Optimal Flight Shapes, With 2 Standouts in Hummingbirds and Penguins
Updated
Updated · Nautilus · May 7
Study Finds Most Bird Wings Miss Optimal Flight Shapes, With 2 Standouts in Hummingbirds and Penguins
3 articles · Updated · Nautilus · May 7
Nature Communications research found most real bird wings fall in the middle to low end of a theoretical flight-optimization map rather than matching the best possible shapes.
University of Bristol researchers built a morphospace of all plausible wing forms and tested how each would perform in soaring, hovering, diving and other flight modes before comparing them with actual birds.
Hummingbirds and penguins ranked among the most optimized wings, while the flightless rhea was among the least optimized; albatrosses and terns also underperformed despite their renowned long-distance travel.
The study points to evolutionary trade-offs and body-plan constraints: wings may be only "good enough" for flight because they also must fit the rest of the bird or serve roles such as courtship displays.
What hidden evolutionary trade-offs make the wings of master flyers like the albatross suboptimal?
If nature's designs are just 'good enough,' should engineers abandon biomimicry for true perfection?