Birds flap their wings while running to save energy , as shown by a team of experts from the University of Montana (USA) who published their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology . By implanting electrodes in the muscle tissues of pigeons, and measuring their power while the birds climbed ramps of different inclinations or flew parallel to them, they found that, when climbing a 65-degree ramp, the fluttering pigeons used only 10% of the energy used when flying . Similar behavior has been seen in partridges.
Flapping without taking flight, the authors suggest, could be an evolutionary mechanism , a transition that could also be present among dinosaurs . In addition, according to scientists, chicks, whose muscles are still too weak to fly, moving around that way helps them escape predators .
