Data from: Ontogeny of aerial righting and wing flapping in juvenile birds

Evangelista, Dennis, University of California, Berkeley

Cam, Sharlene, University of California, Berkeley

Huynh, Tony, University of California, Berkeley

Krivitskiy, Igor, University of California, Berkeley

Dudley, Robert, University of California, Berkeley

Published Jul 31, 2014 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s6k44

Cite this dataset

Evangelista, Dennis et al. (2014). Data from: Ontogeny of aerial righting and wing flapping in juvenile birds [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s6k44

Abstract

Mechanisms of aerial righting in juvenile chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) were studied from hatching to 14 days-post-hatching (dph). Asymmetric movements of the wings were used from 1 to 8 dph to effect progressively more successful righting behaviour via body roll. Following 8 dph, wing motions transitioned to bilaterally symmetric flapping that yielded aerial righting via nose-down pitch, along with substantial increases in vertical force production during descent. Ontogenetically, the use of such wing motions to effect aerial righting precedes both symmetric flapping and a previously documented behaviour in chukar (i.e. wing-assisted incline running) hypothesized to be relevant to incipient flight evolution in birds. These findings highlight the importance of asymmetric wing activation and controlled aerial manoeuvres during bird development and are potentially relevant to understanding the origins of avian flight.

Usage notes

Raw data and R code for plotting

Data and R code to produce figure 2, which gives (a) Percent righting (N=26 birds, number of drops as indicated) and (b) righting mode (N=26 birds, number of successful rightings as indicated), and (c) vertical force production (N=5 birds, except for N=1 at 14 dph; data represent mean ± 1 s.d.) versus age in Chukar Partridge. Righting via roll, as accomplished by asymmetric wing and leg movements, is used prior to 14 dph. Around 9 dph, birds switch to righting via pitch using symmetric wing motions, and vertical force production increases concomitantly.

data.tar.gz