Meeting Abstract
58.5 Tuesday, Jan. 5 When kids out-perform adults: Contrasting ontogenetic locomotor performance for two species of Galliform birds DIAL, KP; Univ Montana, Missoula kdial@mso.umt.edu
At hatching, megapods (e.g., brush turkey, malleefowl) are the most well-developed (ie., super-precocial) birds in the world and even possess flight-capable wings. I studied ontogeny of locomotion in Australian brush turkey (Alectura lathami) (N=9) spanning age classes from hatchling to adult using field-captured animals brought to the lab. Birds were challenged to ascend steep textured inclines (equipped with a force-plate) and videotaped over a wide-range of angles (horizontal to 110o). As found previously for chukar partridge, brush turkeys preferentially employ wing-assisted incline running (WAIR) rather than fly to ascend to an elevated refuge. However, in contrast to all other bird species studied to date, flap-running incline performance in brush turkeys degraded with age. The youngest birds successfully ascend the most aggressive inclines where older animals fail to perform. Wing loading, ground reaction force (parallel and normal), acceleration, and wing-stroke kinematics are compared between the two clades. Within Galliformes, developmental trajectories for locomotion are strikingly different and appear to be correlated with the degree of parental care. NSF 0417176.
