Abstract
Gliding flight is very cheap compared with active flight. Physiological measurements indicate that gliding in the herring gull (Larus argentatus) costs only 2.17 times BMR (Baudinette and Schmidt-Nielsen 1974), for the flight muscles do not perform any mechanical work but produce only static forces to keep the wings down on the horizontal plane, opposing the aerodynamic force. The gliding performance, aerodynamics, and stability and control of movements will be treated in this chapter. Gliding is the main component in soaring flight, which will be treated in the next chapter.
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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Norberg, U.M. (1990). Gliding Flight. In: Vertebrate Flight. Zoophysiology, vol 27. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83848-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83848-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-83850-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-83848-4
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