For flamingos, standing on one leg might actually be easier than standing on two. A report published Wednesday in The Royal Society's Biology Letters revealed that flamingos might literally be built to stand on one leg, which would explain how they're able to do so while they sleep without toppling over.
When the researchers' first idea for testing flamingos' balance — walking over to the birds in a zoo and giving them "a little prod" — was rejected, they turned to studying flamingo cadavers. To their surprise, they found that while a dead flamingo can't stand on two legs, it can still balance on one. When the researchers began studying live flamingos — by watching them until the birds dozed off — they found out flamingos' balance became better as they fell asleep.
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