There is a connection between physics and flamingos. It's all about the unusual way they feed. They stomp their large feet, they dip their heads upside down - eyes first into the water — and they open and close their L-shaped beak at a rapid rate of 12 times per second.
Victor Ortega Jiménez, a biomechanics professor at the University California, Berkeley noticed this feeding dance while visiting a zoo in Atlanta in 2019. Ortega Jiménez wanted to know more about "the mystery of these magnificent birds — what are they doing inside of the fluid?"
What he didn't know at the time was that this question would lead to years of research and experiments with 3D printed beaks and mechanical feet, they came to a surprising answer, vortexes.
"We observed that they were producing some tornado-like vortices. And we know tornadoes can be destructive, but they are very effective to lift particles from the ground, from the bottom and, in this case, sediment," says Ortega Jiménez.
They found that almost all the motions in the feeding dance were creating vortexes. Ortega Jiménez hopes that better understanding how flamingos feed can lead to better more active biofilters.
Want to hear about more physics or animal discoveries? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to tell us what areas of science you'd be interested in.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineers were Robert Rodriguez and Jimmy Keeley.
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