FIGURE 3.

Muscle Tissue Length During Non-Synchronous Ramp Ascent and Descent. We used magnetomicrometry to track muscle tissue length during ramp ascent and descent at two inclines for all three birds. Data for each bird and each slope are synchronized at right leg toe strike (indicated by the vertical gray line) and normalized from toe strike to toe strike. Variability between curves reflects gait cycle variability during untrained ramp navigation. Muscle tissue length is plotted in blue for right leg stance, in purple for right leg swing, and in gray where video did not allow gait-phase labeling. We recorded at least three gait cycles of each activity for each bird.