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Comment by rauljara

Would love to see a pterosaur / bat version of this drone. Birds use one set of muscles to jump in the air and another to flap their wings, limiting how big they can get. That’s because, if you make your wing muscles bigger, then you need bigger leg muscles to support them, then you need bigger wing muscles to support your legs, etc. pterosaurs and bats have tiny little legs and use their “arm” (wing) muscles to do the initial jump into the air. It’s just one set of muscles that are used for both functions, which is why pterosaurs were able to get so big. It does beg the question, tho, why we haven’t seen any truly giant bats.

This pbs aeons video has a great explanation: https://youtu.be/scAp-fncp64?si=hjeWKGBI7riyjE1M

parent rauljara 1 year ago

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