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Wings are so fascinating. Flying animals have their whole body, from their brain, digestive system, down to their bones internal structure and function [0] opti
by makeitdouble 3y ago
Wings are so fascinating. Flying animals have their whole body, from their brain, digestive system, down to their bones internal structure and function [0] optimized for flight. That's where we see species giving up flight ability to get a stronger body, and I wonder what it would take for us to do the reverse to be able to use these wings in any way.
[0] https://www.montananaturalist.org/blog-post/avian-adaptations/ https://www.montananaturalist.org/blog-post/avian-adaptation...
- konstantinua00 3y agoJust need to go to Titan atmosphere thick enough, gravity low enough
- ChainOfFools 3y agoWe'd definitely have to give up long gestation and with that, live birth, and probably a good amount of cranial capacity due to weight and energy budget tradeoffs.
- jbotz 3y agoHuh? Bats have most of those those, more than most other mammals their size.
- ChainOfFools 3y agoBats do not have the cranial size of humans; that's kind of the point. They may have a loosely comparable cranium to body mass proportion, but allometric mass scaling matters with respect to physiological adaptation, quite a lot[0]. [0] https://www.phys.ufl.edu/courses/phy3221/spring10/HaldaneRightSize.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwilsdWT6o6FAxVPBUQIHUZHBF4QFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0zcy8CJNvk6sVDBn86rkOR https://www.phys.ufl.edu/courses/phy3221/spring10/HaldaneRig...
- MagicMoonlight 3y agoIt would be an awful trade. Weaker, dumber, slower. All for something that isn’t very good and we wouldn’t use very much. People would prefer to drive rather than fly because you’ll get soaking wet. Unless you just go around naked or something.