Fig. 3: Wing morphing, specifically driven by the elbow, has a strong effect on roll and yaw inertia components.
From: Birds can transition between stable and unstable states via wing morphing
a, All log-transformed mean diagonal components scaled isometrically with body mass (PGLMM model for each component; solid line). n = 36 individual specimens; 95% confidence intervals visualized by transparent ribbons. b, Elbow extension has the largest effect on Ixx and Izz but joint angles were not strong predictors of Iyy or Ixz. c, The ability to adjust I varies substantially across species. d–f, At the maximum wing extension, the wing components (bones, feathers, muscle and skin) made the largest contribution to Ixx (d), whereas body components (head, neck, torso and tail) had a larger role in Iyy (e) and Izz (f). Components are coloured following the bird schematic.
