Flight has been independently invented by reptiles, insects, fish, birds, and mammals. Did you know that bats aren't the only mammals that fly? Back in the 1960's every kid on the block knew about these other flying mammals.
I once found a flying squirrel in the kitchen of my dorm at MIT (not in my pajamas). I initially thought it was a mouse, and was thinking that scampering up to the top of a bookshelf was perhaps an odd thing for a mouse to do, whereupon it demonstrated its superpowers by jumping off the shelf and gliding gracefully to the floor. I eventually managed to trap it in a box baited with some peanut butter, and took it back outside.
(I recently bought the DVD of the 1st season of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it holds up, nearly 50 years later.)
Somehow I always end up bursting bubbles...flying squirrels don't really fly--they glide. They do it beautifully; but to fly, the animal has to be able to lift itself upward through the air solely on its own power. Flying squirrels can only ride the wind and have to climb upward on trees, etc. to reach any height. Sorry.
‘Flight’: the process by which an object moves either through the air, or movement beyond earth's atmosphere (as in the case of spaceflight), by generating lift, propulsive thrust or aero-statically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement.
Gliding is in fact flying. An object does not have "to be able to lift itself upward through the air solely on its own power" to be defined as flying but even if that were a requirement, from it's perch the flying squirrel (they don't call it that for nothing) can use it's own strength in running and jumping to propel itself upward while simultaneously using it's webbed wings to create lift and for a moment be moving upwards through the air solely on it's own power. Ergo you were not only wrong about what flight is but you were also wrong about the flying squirrel not qualifying for your misappropriated definition of it.
The next time you want to burst bubbles, don’t pick a bubble that’s a titanium ball bearing. Sorry.
4 comments :
I once found a flying squirrel in the kitchen of my dorm at MIT (not in my pajamas). I initially thought it was a mouse, and was thinking that scampering up to the top of a bookshelf was perhaps an odd thing for a mouse to do, whereupon it demonstrated its superpowers by jumping off the shelf and gliding gracefully to the floor. I eventually managed to trap it in a box baited with some peanut butter, and took it back outside.
(I recently bought the DVD of the 1st season of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it holds up, nearly 50 years later.)
Somehow I always end up bursting bubbles...flying squirrels don't really fly--they glide. They do it beautifully; but to fly, the animal has to be able to lift itself upward through the air solely on its own power. Flying squirrels can only ride the wind and have to climb upward on trees, etc. to reach any height. Sorry.
‘Flight’: the process by which an object moves either through the air, or movement beyond earth's atmosphere (as in the case of spaceflight), by generating lift, propulsive thrust or aero-statically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement.
Gliding is in fact flying. An object does not have "to be able to lift itself upward through the air solely on its own power" to be defined as flying but even if that were a requirement, from it's perch the flying squirrel (they don't call it that for nothing) can use it's own strength in running and jumping to propel itself upward while simultaneously using it's webbed wings to create lift and for a moment be moving upwards through the air solely on it's own power. Ergo you were not only wrong about what flight is but you were also wrong about the flying squirrel not qualifying for your misappropriated definition of it.
The next time you want to burst bubbles, don’t pick a bubble that’s a titanium ball bearing. Sorry.
Actually - you are wrong. Gliding is not flying. That is like saying me jumping up in the air is flying for a split second.
You're right - the flying squirrell should be renamed the gliding squirrell. Bats are the only mammals that fly.
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