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Why birds do not fall while sleeping

(news.cnrs.fr)
230 points mdp2021 | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 08:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.223s | source
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ndheebebe ◴[17 Oct 24 02:17 UTC] No.41865817[source]▶
> The only permanent bipeds of the animal kingdom alongside humans

Kangaroos?

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dhosek ◴[17 Oct 24 02:25 UTC] No.41865856[source]▶
Kangaroos engage in quadrupedal (actually pentapedal—using their tail as well) locomotion at slow speeds.
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cryptoz ◴[17 Oct 24 02:29 UTC] No.41865870[source]▶
Humans also engage in quadrupedal locomotion, often at any speed and sometimes up stairs too.

Also, I see both of my dogs standing on 2 legs every day, often walking short distances like that. According to wikipedia this only happens when they are trained to do it (?!) but we never trained them and they've been doing it since a few months old. Maybe I should update https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipedalism to indicate training may not be required for temporary bipedal behavior in some dogs.

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1. dhosek ◴[17 Oct 24 22:01 UTC] No.41874266[source]▶
But that’s not a normative mode of movement. Among healthy adults, quadrupedal locomotion will represent a small portion of their movement and is far from a comfortable means of movement thanks to our short arms compared to other apes who engage in quadrupedal movement a significant fraction of the time.