Q: You recently wrote that several kinds of birds often stand on one leg but you didn't explain why. Whenever I see a flock of flamingos in a zoo, at least some of them are on one leg, Surely ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Flamingos are a pretty underrated bird. But ...

Flamingoes are fairly large birds with a curvy neck and long legs, and they’re famous for their pink color and how they stand on one leg. There are five different species of flamingo, one of which is ...

Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To ...

Humans consider standing on one leg something best done in a yoga class. Flamingos, on the other hand, consider it the most comfortable sleeping position. And they never seem to fall.

It seems like kind of an awkward way to spend most of your time, but flamingos seem perfectly happy to hang out on one leg.

Q: You recently wrote that several kinds of birds often stand on one leg but you didn't explain why. Whenever I see a flock of flamingos in a zoo, at least some of them are on one leg, Surely ...