LITERATURE REVIEW: EAGLE'S WINGS

Turbulence could issue problems in fight. However, birds such as Eagles have the ability to overcome turbulence. Eagles have long and large wings, big enough to carry its own weight with prey that it carries. Eagles goes to series of wing movements in order to overcome turbulence during mid flight.

Wing Tuck

During mid flight, when gusts are around, eagles pulled in their wings and dropped into free fall. The pulling of its wings maneuver is called a wing tuck. Unlike any regular birds, this wing movement is not considered flapping as there are no upstrokes involved. The video below demonstrates the wing tuck maneuver.

Winglet

Turbulence usually occurs at the tip of the wings, where lift force is not much generated. This is because there is a difference in air pressure circling around at the wing tip, creating vortex. Since this phenomenon occurs at the wing tips, eagles have the ability to overcome this; by manipulating its feathers. In order to generate maximum lift and reduce turbulence, eagles manipulate its feathers at the wing tip to almost vertical. This feather manipulation resulted highly efficient flight without needing longer or larger wings to generate the same amount of lift force. This is called winglet and it acts as a barrier against the vortex. The video below from 2:11 to 12:34 demonstrates and justifies this situation.

References

http://outdooreconomy.com/nature-inspired-inventions-and-engineering-for-aviation/

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/science/on-eagles-wings-a-revelation-about-flight.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdOXYDZO2so&t=2264s

Anatomy and fun facts of the Eagle

Claw

A talon is the claw of a bird of prey, its primary hunting tool. The talons are very important; without them, most birds of prey would not be able to catch their food. Some birds also use claws for defensive purposes. 

First, the claws must be extremely strong and sharp. When an eagle catches a fish, those claws have to slice into a stiff, strong fish with thick scales protecting its body. (All birds of prey use their feet for killing, from the tiniest Elf Owl and American Kestrel to the largest eagles.)
But sharp claws are NOT the reason eagle feet are called talons; after all, cats have sharp claws, too, but they don't have talons. What makes talons different? They are designed to carry things. An eagle foot is made up of four muscular toes, powerful enough to hang onto a fairly large fish as the eagle carries it through the air.
Eagles, hawks, and owls have very sharp beaks as well as talons. Many of them use their talons to grab prey animals. Next they use the sharp points of their beaks to bite the animal at the base of the skull or in the neck to kill it. Eagles don't bother with that when they're carrying a fish, but ones that learn to hunt rabbits or ducks may do so. Although an eagle's beak is strong, powerful, and huge, it rarely if ever carries sticks or fish in its beak.

Eagle Foot Facts

• The eagle has very specially adapted large, clawed feet which are known as talons.
• The talons of the eagle are powerful and strong and allow the eagle to catch prey on the ground or in water when the eagle is still in the air.
• The talons of the eagle are designed to carry prey through the air and they are strong enough to hold onto a fish which weighs more than the eagle.
• The feet of an eagle have four strong toes, and at the end of these toes are large, curved claws which enables the eagle to hook onto its prey.
• The talons of a baby eagle are very short when compared to the talons of an adult eagle, and it takes a few years for the feet of the baby eagle to be fully sized.

Eagle Beak Facts

• Eagles have very sharp and pointed beaks which the eagle often uses to grab prey with.
• The eagle uses the sharply pointed beak to bite animals at the base of their skull to kill them before swallowing them whole.
• The beak of an eagle is extremely strong and powerful, although they will rarely carry their prey in their beak for large distances.
• The beak of an eagle is made out of keratin and therefore is growing constantly, much like the hair and fingernails of a human being.
• The beak of the eagle is almost as long as the head of an eagle and the eagle uses the hooked end of the beak to rip apart prey that this too big to swallow whole.

Introducing Mimic Mimikyu Team

Welcome to Team Mimic Mimikyu. This is the work of 5 final year students - Danial, Nazween, Xiang, Fahmi and Sathveer, from Taylor's University currently undertaking the Engineering and Biomimetics module.

The team will be researching and analyzing the features of an EAGLE every week. Any important or interesting information about the eagle will be posted in this blog  

The main objective is to observe and evaluate how the features of the eagle can contribute to engineering design which can bring benefits to the society. 

Mighty Eagle