Many times you must have seen a flock of birds flying in the sky, noticing that they mostly fly by forming a V shape. Although not all birds are seen to do so, only a few 'migratory birds' are willing to apply that trick, as they have to cover long distances. But now the question is, why do these birds behave in such a way, is it their nature or is there some other reason behind it? However, this topic remained a matter of debate among scientists for a long time, but later research revealed many special things about why birds prefer to fly in the V Formation.
According to research, the art of flying in the V shape in birds is not from birth, but over time, the birds gradually learn to do so when they are in flocks. According to scientists, there are two reasons birds might fly in a V formation. One is that birds in the V shape are able to fly easily, and this keeps them safe from colliding with the other birds, resulting in easier flight, or the other is they're simply following their leader, who guides everyone.
One study says that as migratory birds fly longer, they are more likely to have more cases of V-shaped flying. The advantage of such a flight is that it becomes easier for the birds to cut through the air, making it a trouble-free journey for the accompanying birds to keep flying. Also, flying in this way saves the energy of the birds. So now let's try to understand how forming a V shape makes the flight of birds easier.
Have you ever experienced a ship ride or seen it in movies? When a ship goes forward, the water just behind it gets pressed down and the water on the side bounces up. Almost the same scene happens when a bird or an airplane runs forward in the air. As the bird moves forward, the air immediately behind it gets pressed down and the air on its side rises up. The air rising from this side acts as fuel for the other birds and in the greed of the rising wind, the birds behind fly to that side.
In fact, most of the bird's energy is spent on staying up and the area where the air is rising up pushes the bird upwards with less effort and there the bird has to spend less energy on its side. Every bird needs this air from the bird ahead. That's why they remain in such positions, and thus, one behind the other, the shape of V is formed.
Scientists say that there is no competition among birds to take the lead position. All birds have the same right to fly, but only healthy birds take the lead. Any bird that flies first goes ahead and the others start flying after it. However, when the leader bird gets tired, it takes the back position and another bird takes its place.
This information or secret was disclosed from the research of Henri Weimerskirch in 2001 because Henri had to find out which bird in this V group was putting more effort into? To carry out this experiment, Henry placed heart rate monitors on birds, which showed that birds flying at the back of the V group had lower heart rates and flapped less frequently than those in leading. Now the reason why this happened, we have already explained, as the rear bird is taking the lift from the side overhead air of the front bird.
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