Washington, Oct 31 (ANI): An Australian study including an Indian-origin scientist has found that birds avoid crashing into things by sensing how quickly they pass objects along their flight path.
The finding could improve the versatility of pilotless aircraft and pave the way for bird-safe buildings and windmills, according to the group of scientists from the University of Queensland and the Australian National University.
Study co-author Professor Mandyam Srinivasan from the Queensland Brain Institute explained the birds' ability to navigate comes down to how they perceive the objects they're flying past.
"As animals move forward, things that are close by seem to move faster than more distant objects," ABC Science quoted Srinivasan as saying.
"If birds fly closer to objects on one side they'll see these objects passing faster compared to the speed of objects on the other side which appear slower from their perspective.
"This imbalance prompts the bird to veer away to even out the speed of image flow in both eyes," he added.
Srinivasan and colleagues trained budgerigars to fly through narrow passages lined with horizontal or vertical stripes.
The study found the birds flew fastest when the passageway was lined with horizontal stripes.
From the birds' perspective, stripes that are parallel to their flight direction don't present a strong image flow - the rate at which images pass a bird's eye.
However, the birds flew far more slowly when the passage was lined with vertical stripes, which presented a stronger image flow from the birds' point of view.
Srinivasan says similar responses were obtained from earlier tests with bees and other insects, which have compound eyes.
"This suggests this principle of visual guidance may be shared by all day-active flying animals," added Srinivasan.
The study appeared in the journal Current Biology. (ANI)
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