3 ms·
Makes me wonder if a bunch of the world's smallest flightless mammal (a fraction of the house mouse's mass) were released at altitude, would they survive? (Not
by ricksunny 3y ago
Makes me wonder if a bunch of the world's smallest flightless mammal (a fraction of the house mouse's mass) were released at altitude, would they survive? (Not proposing that this be done but thought experiments and/or simulations):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_shrew https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_shrew
- tialaramex 3y agoAt altitude it's very cold, the shrews don't work well in the cold due to the same thing that makes them suitable for this experiment - they are very small, thus they lose heat to the environment easily. So, it's possible they freeze to death first. But yes, I imagine that if they survive the cold and aren't falling onto a hard surface (e.g. they land in grass, not a car park) they would survive. For them other than the cold a drop from 1000 metres is the same as a drop from 10 metres.
- sidewndr46 3y agoResearch is obviously warranted on the possibility of shrew blankets that can automatically detach when they touch down.
- tialaramex 3y agoI think if we're going to give shrews blankets, we should just give the shrews blankets, not conditioned on volunteering for this potentially fatal research project.
- LorenPechtel 3y agoNah, do the same thing they did for one of the Venus landers--fasten them with something that melts. Once they have reached an altitude where the temperature won't kill them the tether melts and the blanket falls away. (On Venus they did it to cut a chute because it would have made the lander fall so slowly it would have died before landing.) However, shrew blankets change the whole scenario to irrelevance--a shrew in a blanket sufficient to keep it safe has very different aerodynamic behavior than a naked shrew.
- fho 3y agoIsn't it proven that squirrels have a terminal velocity below what is harmful to them? [citation needed]
- reaperman 3y agoShrews also starve to death if they go a few hours without food, which might complicate the logistics of the experiment a bit.
- JackFr 3y ago“As god is my witness I thought turkeys could fly” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3mgmEdfwg https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3mgmEdfwg
- dpratt71 3y agoTurkeys can fly, though. Just not the domestic ones :)
- atlasunshrugged 3y agoAnd soon Türkiye can even fly F-16s
- Earw0rm 3y agoTürkiye has had those for decades - I remember seeing one take off from Dalaman in the early 00's while I was waiting for a flight there.
- matt-attack 3y agoThanks for that. I was a bit too young to appreciate WKRP when I would see it in syndication. Great line.
- classified 3y agoThis gives "The Taming of the Shrew" an entirely new meaning.