Developing a Morphing Taxidermy of a Red-Tailed Hawk

Studying the flight of birds can provide a lot of inspiration for the design of future drones and airplanes and deepen our understanding of bird ecology. Fixed taxidermies have been used in ecological studies and aerodynamic investigations of avian flight. Building morphing bird taxidermies has the potential to extend future studies incorporating aspects of bird flight while avoiding the challenges of live bird testing. However, creating such morphing taxidermies imposes serious challenges, such as the limited space inside the bird’s dead body for electronic components and the rapid desiccation of the integument. This work presents a first successful attempt to build a morphing taxidermy of a red-tailed hawk. Novel mechanisms were developed to morph the wings and tail of the prototype, which includes real feathers and is covered by the bird’s real skin. The completed morphing taxidermy features wings that morph independently, a tail with pitch, roll, and feather-spread capabilities, along with a fuselage that interconnects all systems with the bird’s carcass. Actuation tests demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed design and validated the design choices. Multi-cycle actuation tests on the proof-of-concept model demonstrated morphing consistency. The paper is method-focused, and application studies are forthcoming.