Flamingo Feeding: Whirlpools, Beaks, and Water Filtration Inspiration

Beyond the wow variable, research coauthor Saad Bhamla, a biophysicist at Georgia Technology in Atlanta, thinks the research might inspire a new generation of purification systems for whatever from wastewater treatment to microplastics removal. He and a group of chemical designers are already making use of the flamingo’s chattering technicians to design much better water-desalination systems, using the beak’s pulsating motion to stop waste buildup on filtration membranes– a reason source of clogs and high upkeep prices.

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Flamingo’s Unique Feeding Technique

Whirlpool-stirring feet and tornado-generating beaks help flamingos change superficial waters into shrimp-swirling fatality zones– confining dexterous victim with the style of a Las Vegas phase act and the performance of a Dyson vacuum.

Like a sewing-machine needle inflating and down concerning 12 times per 2nd, this pistonlike action creates a steady higher jet of water, attracting food fragments toward their mouths like mini vacuum pumps. Inside the beak, the tongue then adds the final capture, pushing water through penalty, comblike structures that trap shrimp and various other edible morsels while purging mud and silt back out.

“The sheer number of points occurring simultaneously is practically overwhelming,” states Caitlin Kight, writer of the book Flamingo and an education and learning professional at the College of Exeter in England that was not associated with the research study.

“Everything mesh like challenge items,” says preservation biologist and flamingo professional Felicity Arengo from the American Gallery of Natural History in New York City. “Every one of these various anatomical and behavior attributes are incorporating and acting with each various other to generate these vortices that are in fact funneling the food to the mouth.”

The Physics Behind the Flamingo’s Feeding

To better recognize the physics at play, Ortega Jiménez and his team developed a 3D-printed model of a flamingo beak, and connected real beak bones from a departed zoo bird to a basic motor. This permitted the group to recreate the flamingo’s signature mouth motions in the laboratory and explore exactly how the birds, by skimming the water’s surface as they feed, generate additional swirling eddies that assist funnel drifting prey right into their beaks.

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Using clear-sided tanks designed for undersea shooting, he and his coworkers recorded Chilean flamingoes (Phoenicopterus chilensis) from the Nashville Zoo as they ate on salt water shrimp. A specialized electronic camera, capable of recording 500 frames per second, disclosed what zookeepers and naturalists had actually missed out on for decades. With their heads inverted bottom-side-up, the flamingoes snapped their beaks backward in quick bursts, generating tiny water whirlwinds that sent out debris and target swirling upwards.

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Making use of a man-made foot model, the researchers showed that, with each shimmy and sway, the webbed appendages follower open and snap closed like parachutes, spinning up debris and lifting surprise target right into the water column.

Flamingo Research and Inspiration

That’s the takeaway from a research released Might 12 in the Process of the National Academy of Sciences that integrated high-speed video, fluid dynamics experiments and 3-D-printed flamingo parts to disclose the mechanics behind the birds’ underwater feeding crazes.

“I’m carefully hopeful,” Bhamla states. If it functions, flamingos– however better known for embellishing lawns than progressing design– might end up being not likely muses in the fight to enhance water filtration.

Creating vortices is uncommon amongst filter feeders in nature and relatively unusual in human-made filtering modern technologies as well. The flamingo’s whole-body choreography hence showcases the power of transformative layout and uses designers an untapped approach for boosting exactly how we separate fragments from water, says Leandra Hamann, a biomimicry researcher at the University of Bonn in Germany who examines filtering systems.

It was a household visit to the flamingo enclosure at his local zoo that initially got Ortega Jiménez questioning what, specifically, all that head-bobbing and foot-shuffling was actually doing. What looked like an awkward ballet over the water, he suspected, may hide a far more innovative hydraulic approach below the surface area.

Using clear-sided storage tanks developed for underwater filming, he and his associates taped Chilean flamingoes (Phoenicopterus chilensis) from the Nashville Zoo as they ate on salt water shrimp. With their heads inverted upside-down, the flamingoes broke their beaks backwards in quick ruptureds, creating tiny water twisters that sent out debris and prey swirling upwards.