RE: bird flight

["Jordan Mallon" <j_mallon@hotmail.com>]

> From: "Ken Carpenter" <Kcarpenter@dmns.org>

> This got me wondering if the "one-size-fits-all" model of bird flight is 
> correct. The tremendeous >variation in wing shape (long, tapering of 
> gliders, versus short, broad of flappers) would suggest >that there may be 
> more subtle variation in wing movement than realized... Perhaps bird flight 
> >needs a new assessment!

Aye.  I get the same impression as Dr. Carpenter.  We've covered everything 
in my biomechanics class this year from the movement of vultures 'round 
thermal shells, to the mid-ocean soarings of the albatross, to the mechanics 
of WAIR.  But when it came to the actual physics of powered bird flight, we 
only just barely skimmed the subject since the science today is nowhere near 
as cut-and-dry as how the professor used to teach it.  Less to have to study 
for the exam, I guess... :-P

Jordan Mallon

Undergraduate Student, Carleton University
Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoecology

Paleoart website: http://www.geocities.com/paleoportfolio/
http://dino.lm.com/artists/display.php?name=Mallon
MSN Messenger: j_mallon@hotmail.com

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