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Science 7 October 1966:
Vol. 154. no. 3745, pp. 150 - 151
DOI: 10.1126/science.154.3745.150
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Articles

Oxygen Consumption of a Flying Bird

Vance A. Tucker 1

1 Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Budgerygahs (Melopsittacus undulatus) flew with a minimum oxygen consumption of 38 milliliters per gramhour at each of three speeds between 19 and 33 kilometers per hour in a recirculating wind tunnel. An oxygen debt accumulated in the first minute of flight and was repaid in the minute following cessation of flight. Frequency of wingbeat was independent of flight speed. The data suggest that flying budgerygahs have a higher cardiac output per kilogram of body weight than mammals and that flight muscle of the budgerygah is among the most metabolically active tissues known.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Does the metabolic rate-flight speed relationship vary among geometrically similar birds of different mass?.
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The energetic cost of short flights in birds.
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