Re: Flight of fancy (formerly, Origins of Flight)

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

>It's difficult for me to accept that the origin of flight in birds 
could 
>be traced to aboreal dinosaurs that couldn't keep from falling out of 
>trees. That's quite a leap, if you know what I mean.


Why? The cursorial origin of flight requies an even bigger leap. And 
lets face it, one cannot just strap on wings and fly ( I have brought up 
that it has been calculated that for Daeudalus to fly, his chest would 
have to be 6 feet wide and his wings 120 feet ). Though I doubt that 
falling out of trees has anything to do with the origin of avian flight, 
I still hold by the theory. The best explanation is that avian flight 
evolved as a way to get to places quicker ( here in Indiana it was once 
heavily wooded and a there was a phrase, " A squirrel could go from the 
Ohio River to Indianapolis without touching the ground," that reflects 
at how wooded it was ). A climbing, gliding animal can move to places 
faster than a walking, running animal and use less energy. Provided that 
the glider has the proper anatomy, a step from gliding to flying may 
have been varily easy.

MattTroutman

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