Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 11:41:27 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Maurice Barnhill Organization: University of Delaware Subject: Re: Muscle Mass in Birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Logically, birds should have enough muscle to allow them to fly as fast as they need to fly in order to survive and/or prosper. After they put on weight for migration they would fly somewhat more slowly, but perhaps that would not matter. Disclaimer: I have no experience that would allow me to guess whether or not birds also add muscle mass to prepare for migration. Tom Beal wrote: > > This question came to mind watching an exercise show this am. They were > talking about how adding muscle mass in humans raises you resting/base > metabolism, so that you use more calories even sitting around. I would > assume passerines or shorebirds have only enough flight muscles to carry > their "normal" body weight, any more would seem to be wasteful. > What about migrating birds who put on substantial body fat for migration? Do > these birds always have enough muscle to fly with this extra weight or when > they are "fattening up" for migration, do they also add muscle? > > Tom Beal > Glenn Dale, MD > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= -- Maurice Barnhill, mvb@udel.edu http://www.physics.udel.edu/~barnhill/ Physics Dept., University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================