How the albatross can fly 500 miles with just a few flaps

The albatross is one of the most efficient travelers in the animal world, and one species - the wandering albatross - can fly almost 500 miles (804 kilometers) in a day with just an occasional flap of its wings. The birds have a large wingspan of up to 11 feet (3.4 meters) across to catch and ride the wind, and soar and dive between contrasting currents of air, a flight pattern called dynamic soaring - comparable to riding a sidewinding rollercoaster. Now, engineers at MIT have developed a new model to simulate this dynamic soaring, and have used it to identify the optimal flight pattern that an albatross should take in order to harvest the most wind and energy. They found that when an albatross banks or turns to dive down and soar up, it should do this in shallow arcs - keeping almost to a straight, forwards track. The researchers say that the new model will be useful in understanding how albatross flight patterns may change as wind patterns shift with changing climate, as well as inform the design of wind-propelled drones and gliders which could be used to perform long-duration, long-range monitoring missions in remote regions of the world.