POSTURAL CONTROL. Lena Ting, one of the authors of the flamingo study, is an expert in postural control at Emory University. I would never have imagined that there are specialists in postural control. Ting is quoted: “I’m used to studying things that walk or run, where you have to chase them.”
The Atlantic article explains the changes in the body’s center of gravity when a flamingo stands on one leg. When they raise a leg, their body weight shifts in a way that naturally stabilizes the joints of their standing limb. A flamingo is actually less stable when standing on two legs.
The article also has an illustration of how what we think of as a flamingo’s knee is actually the bird’s ankle.