Mastering the Skies: The Secrets of Bird Flight Revealed

In this episode of Wildly Curious (formerly For the Love of Nature), hosts Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the fascinating world of bird flight and explore the physics behind it. From the elegant gliding of the albatross to the record-breaking speed of the peregrine falcon and the astonishing agility of the hummingbird, these birds have evolved extraordinary adaptations that allow them to navigate the skies with ease. They break down how feathers, wings, and body shape have evolved to create these flying pros. Plus, Katy and Laura tackle fun hypotheticals—like what happens when you drop an elephant from a plane! Whether you're a nature enthusiast or a physics fan, this episode is sure to soar to the top of your playlist.

Transcript

Laura: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Wildly Curious, a podcast that tells you everything you need to know about nature and probably more than you wanted to know. I'm Laura.

Katy: And I'm Katy. And today we're going to talk about how birds have perfected the science of flight using physics to navigate the skies with precision and ease.

Laura: Oh, jeez. That's It's very 

Katy: pizzazz at the end. 

Laura: I like it.

Katy: Well, if you guys haven't noticed already, uh, the name change we did just did the previous episode. Uh, saying, hey, we're changing the name. So,

hey, 

Laura: if you missed that, guess what? You're listening to the new podcast. I mean, yeah, it's the same old 

Katy: it's the same podcast, We just changed the name. Um, just very, very briefly go back and listen to that episode. We just talk a little bit more about why we did it. But it's not that we didn't like our last name. We did. It's just we need something that kind of rolled off the tongue a little bit better, easier to find.

And so it was a. business decision on mine and Laura's part to say, you know what, this is growing. We're chart, literally topping charts right now, which is [00:01:00] blowing my freaking mind still, um, 95 countries around the world, 1400 plus cities now. Um, and so it just made, it just made logical business sense that we had to switch to a name that was a little bit easier to find and one that Laura and

I can say. consistently.

Yeah, consistently. Yeah. So we're excited. So it's now wildly curious, um, across all the platforms. If you guys are already subscribed. Well, I mean, if you're already listening to this one, you subscribe. I mean, you've already seen we're changing the name in the hosting podcast. We're not starting over anything like that. Um, so if you're subscribing, Subscribing. It'll pop up. No worries there. Yeah, and then the website now you can still go to the nature podcast calm that'll still take you there But the new URL that we're gonna be pushing is be wildly curious

Laura: That's what we want you to be. Um,

Katy: curious so we are That's what we want you to be. 

Laura: you to be. Um, well, uh, real quick, I got some nature news.

Katy: Oh, I got one too.

Laura: mean, [00:02:00] thanks to you, you sent me this one. 

Katy: I did. I didn't read it. I just read the title yeah, I read the title and I was like, I already had one, and I was like, Boom, Laura, here. I

Laura: I don't even want to talk about it, but here we go. This title is, um, is from SciTechDaily, and it says, Baffling Scientists.

Scientists discover mysterious alien flatworm in North Carolina. Ugh,

Katy: hate flatworms.

yeah, well, like, just,

Laura: Um, so, this, I mean, it sounds way scarier of a title than it is, but, flatworms generally

Katy: click on it, so I

mean, It worked. 

Laura: ew, gross, and like, what do you mean by alien? So, um, flatworms are, like, predatory, and usually you find them in, like, the water, or in some kind of tropical environment.

They're not often found on land, but they just did. They just found some. I mean, it's not unheard of, but not often. Um, this one was found in North Carolina and Florida. Very far apart. They've never found this species. At first they were [00:03:00] like, oh, it's this other kind of flatworm, but then they did some analysis and they're like, oh, nope.

Completely different species and genus. It's not even closely related to 

Katy: Oh, geez, yeah. What,

Laura: this new one they have dubbed, um, a Amaga pseudobama. Which is a pretty good one. Um, because it looks like what they thought another flatworm was called Obama Nungara. So, Pseudobama.

Katy: what would somebody be that studies flatworm? Like, what kind of scientist is that?

Laura: Uh, what's the sign? What are flatworms? They are What's the sign? I can't remember.

Um, so And, uh, anyway, they don't know where they're from. They'd have no idea where these things originated. They just started appearing in North Carolina. Um, first from a nursery and then from some landscapes. Um, the, the, the problem is that sometimes flatworms carry parasites and can be like really bad for the [00:04:00] environment, but there's, they're so new, they actually have no idea yet.

So, um, they don't know what it preys on, they don't know how quickly it reproduces, and they don't know what's in store for us

Katy: Is this guy, is he gonna take over the world? We don't know

yet. we just have to find out. I don't know. I couldn't really find it. Like, what kind of, what type of scientist studies flatworm? That's okay. I feel bad for whoever

does. That's gotta be like, But I guess there's gotta be somebody out there that's passionate about flatworms. I also have nature news. Um, there was a dinosaur recently unearthed. I guess it's dug up,

Laura: Oh, cool.

Katy: Um, and it was in Alberta's Badlands. Um, and it lived about more than 70 million years ago. Uh, it was a, let's see here, this would have been like last week, the week before. Um, and they found a, uh, let's see here, uh, Wednesday.

So two Wednesdays ago, paleontologist near Grand Prairie pulled a [00:05:00] 600 pounds skull from the ground,

Laura: Pachyrhinosaurus.

Katy: And it's an adult Pachyrhinosaurus. Uh, it's the. Yeah, it's a second plant eating dinosaur to be unearthed from a dense bone bed belonging to a herd that died together on the edge of the valley that now sits 280 miles or 450 kilometers northwest of Edmond in Canada, like I said, uh, so they did, like I said, they didn't die.

It didn't die alone. Um, they have hundreds of juvenile bones in this bone bed. So they know that there were many babies and some adults, uh, you know, among this group. Um, but anyway, she described this, this particular Pachyrhinosaurus as a smaller, older cousin of the Triceratops.

Laura: it doesn't have the horns really on its face. I mean, 

Katy: Yeah, no, it's Yeah, yeah. Um, so, she said like the head alone, because it's 600 pounds, the head alone is about the size of a baby elephant, [00:06:00] which is in

Laura: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely, it's got like a crest. It's got like a domed nose and a little beak. Definitely Triceratops ish looking, but not with those spiky horns.

Katy: yeah, no, no, definitely doesn't have the horn. So anyway, so that was the nature juice, just real

quick. Big Sam,

Laura: find a Bonebed.

Katy: Right?

Laura: pretty cool band name. Bonebed. 

Katy: That's a good one. That's definitely, obviously, like, metal.

Heavy metal or something.

Laura: yeah.

Katy: Bonebend. Heh heh heh

Laura: Um,

I was gonna say, speaking of dinosaurs, great transition, you know how I love my good transitions. This one actually makes sense, because we're gonna start talking about birds. And, um, for those of you that are on board with evolution, birds came from dinosaurs. Um,

Katy: those of you who are not, I mean, still

listen, because 

Laura: totally, totally, 

Katy: we're still gonna tell you how they are.

Laura: Um, so, what Katy and I decided to talk about, which is in our message, is how that [00:07:00] these birds that most birds have some incredible adaptations for flight. 

Katy: Yeah, some, 

Laura: are some exceptions.

Katy: yeah, some duds didn't.

Some missed that memo. 

Laura: Yeah, the ratites, like the ostriches and emus and rheas, penguins, kiwis, there's a couple of duds out there.

Um, good in other ways with better adaptations for being on the ground. But we want to talk about flight because that's what everybody knows about birds. 

Katy: And it's pretty cool.

Laura: Yeah. So, I'm going to talk about the adaptations to let them do it, and then Katy's going to talk about how they do it, the physics behind it.

Katy: Physics, yeah.

Laura: So I'll lay, I'll lay the ground by how they can get off the ground.

Heh.

Katy: um, heh

Laura: So, there's, um, two kinds of adaptation categories that I'd like to address. One is morphological, which just means, like, body parts. So, obviously, to fly. You have to have wings, okay? Um, we haven't [00:08:00] figured out how to do it without it yet. So, wings, and the shape of your, of the bird's wings functions according to their lifestyle, which Katy might, or may or may not talk about.

But, different shaped wings, I

Katy: I

don't think I really did. I mean,

I kind of, but not really,

yeah. 

Laura: if you've got wings that are big, wide soaring wings, it's probably because you soar around looking for food, like a vulture,

if you have like narrow

Katy: tiny

Laura: W shaped wings, you're probably like a Falcon, so you can fold them into close to your body and go fast.

So there's like different shaped wings to allow birds to do different things. Um, to fly, you also need, at least for birds, you need feathers. Um, this is actually five to 10 percent of a bird's body weight. Um, so sometimes. feathers weigh more than their skeleton, uh, which is just crazy to me.

But I believe it, having taken care of, like, especially owls.

We have the little owl at work, and he's literally just a poof ball. Like, I have to dig so far to get into his body, [00:09:00] like, to do anything to his skin.

Katy: Yeah,

Laura: Um, and then, uh, Their body shape, the shape of their actual body helps with flight and the physics of that, like, you know, being aerodynamic. And the birds are compact.

Everything about them is like, we're all long, gangly, we got like tentacles and everything, probably looks like to 

Katy: I am forever calling my arms and legs tentacles not appendages. They are now called

tentacles. 

Laura: Yeah, I mean, surely they look like that to a bird who's 

Katy: has to

Laura: they're very compact. Everything is all together. Helps them to be able to fly. But I think that most, a lot of people probably know what a bird looks like and that it can help them fly. So I want to spend way more time talking about anatomical adaptations, things that we can't see, but that are super cool that allow a bird to fly.

So first off, we got their bones. Um, bone, the bones of a bird make up about six to eight percent of their body mass, okay? And [00:10:00] humans relative, like the comparison, ours is about 14 percent of our mass. So we're like double, like our skeleton is like two times heavier in proportion to our body than a bird's bones.

Um, why is this? They have a couple of strategies here for their skeleton. One, they've just chucked some of those bones over the years. 

Katy: they're like, can you imagine just like one day being like, you know what,

you know Yeah, your pointer finger, who, who really needs the point? Your ring finger, who needs

it? Like, you don't really need it. Just get rid of it. Just, just drop it. We'll be lighter

by ounces, but still. 

Laura: did drop finger bones. They dropped a leg bone or two, and they dropped tail bones. Um, so just chucked them. They didn't need them. Those that they did keep, some of them they just fused together, so it's just one bone now rather than two. Now that doesn't have anything to do with weight, um, but it does help make their skeleton more rigid.

Which at first you'd be like, well, [00:11:00] why does that help? Because flight is extremely taxing on a skeleton.

Um, which I'm sure you talk about. At least like, as far as like, the physics of flight, there's a lot of force going on.

So you need to be strong. So they're thoracic. vertebrae, which is your, like, your torso, okay, like, your middle backbones.

Those are all fused together. Um, and that helps, like, between their wing, between their arms. Um, their pelvis is fused. The remaining finger bones are fused. Their remaining leg bones are fused. 

Katy: They would like never have to go to a chiropractor. That sounds, actually, kind of sounds

amazing. 

Laura: And their collarbone is fused, which is the wishbone that people sometimes, you know, do their 

Katy: Break. 

Laura: thing with.

Yep, yep. We just snap that. We're like, we don't like it fused. Break it.

Katy: Make a wish.

Yeah. 

Laura: so, eliminated bones, fused bones, and then, um, hollowed out those bones. So the [00:12:00] science word for hollow bones is pneumatization. Um, and I actually learned some stuff, like I always do for this podcast, and I knew that birds have hollow bones. But there's some things that I've always been told that might not necessarily be true.

So let's see if you know them too, Katy. So the myth The myth is that having hollow bones always makes the bird proportionally lighter, and that is not always the case. Okay, so just because you've got hollow bones doesn't mean you're necessarily lighter because the bone itself can be more dense. But it definitely does help to eliminate weight In 

Katy: Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. 

Laura: say for example, they've taken like a leg bone from like a rat, the same size leg bone from a bird, and the bird and the rat leg bone weigh the same, okay?

So, sometimes those bones are like that. Sometimes the [00:13:00] bones are just lighter, but it is a myth that all those bones are lighter than all the bones of like a rodent of the same 

Katy: Yeah. 

Laura: More pressures are placed on a bird skeleton than any kind of terrestrial mammal skeleton. So, they have to be completely able to support their body weight on either just their front limbs, their wings, or just their back limbs, their legs, when they're standing on the ground.

Whereas, like, our skeletons are pretty, you know, like, we We are bipedal, we will walk upright now, but most mammals walk on four legs, so their, their skeleton is very evenly 

Katy: Yeah, distribute, 

Laura: is either real top heavy or real bottom heavy, their bones and their, their arms and leg bones have to be really strong.

And they also have a giant sternum to have all of those, those wing muscles connected to. They've got that giant sternum down the front of their chest. Some bones are lighter, while others are heavier, like I was saying, when compared with the mammal bones of similar sizes and types. Um, [00:14:00] and they actually, it seems like they've studied these and they think that bird skeletons have about as much total body mass as do the skeletons of many terrestrial mammals.

Not us, we're 14, but many, many mammals are. Um, and despite some variation in density, um, Bird bones are on average denser than some of them because of,

because of the strains of flight

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: the bones themselves are hollow, but actually they look kind of like a cobweb inside because they have very rigid internal structures, like a lattice work to keep those bones from just snapping in half.

Katy: Which we talked about, and could you fight that a little bit?

Laura: Just snap those bird bones. Um, I will come back to the hollow bones when I talk about some other stuff later, but that's the skeleton. So the entire bird skeleton, um, um, And the skull, also part of the skeleton, they've ditched teeth, which [00:15:00] would add weight because they're your 

Katy: Yeah. Yeah. 

Laura: teeth, and that makes it so they also don't have, they have no need for such a big jaw, because there's nothing in there to root, um, so their whole skull can be smaller, even ones that are, you know, you know, cracking seeds and doing things like that, those birds have Decent sized jaws, but it's more about pressures and forces of the beak than it is about the muscles.

Okay, that was skeleton. Reproductive organs. Many birds have reproductive organs that change size depending on whether it's breeding season or not, which is pretty cool. So like, if it's breeding season, big testes and ovaries. Not breeding season, teeny 

Katy: Here we go. Yeah.

Laura: And they've also figured out that, you know what, they really only need their left ovary.

They don't need the other one.

Y have two. 

Katy: I mean, yeah, what I have, that's what I was just gonna say. I was like, what I have two. What I have

Laura: Y have two. It's too much weight. So they ditched [00:16:00] the left one. Um, as far as their excretory system, because who doesn't like to talk about excretions, 

Katy: A good poop. Yeah.

Laura: they have no bladder or urethra. So they've just ditched that system. Um, birds, you know, if anybody has ever seen bird poop, which I'm sure you all have, It's not quite like human poop.

Um, it is, you know, that white and the brown, that's uric acid. Okay, it's not the same thing as our feces. Uric acid is their urine, but it's not like a liquid. It's like a paste. It's produced from the kidneys and goes straight into the cloaca. And I know we've talked about this before, but the cloaca is the one, the one hole.

that they've got. They're where their poop, 

Katy: the one hole for everything.

Laura: acid, and their reproductive juices, um, all, all come from. So, that's,

Katy: there's a more scientific way to say that, but [00:17:00] yeah, that's that.

Laura: uh, so they, they've just, the excretory system is much, is super simplified. Alright, here's where some blowing my mind was the respiratory system. I know that we learned about the bird respiratory system in ornithology in 

Katy: it is pretty crazy. I think it's pretty cool.

Laura: But there's some things that I swear that I didn't learn and definitely didn't remember, okay?

Because if I had to, like, if 

Katy: Well, we were had to

remember, 

Laura: you were like, Hey, Laura, how does a bird breathe? I would be not actually able to tell you, apparently.

Katy: I can, I can to this day still draw a pair, like what

the pair of bronchi, yeah, and of a bird's lung, but, I mean, ornithology class, at least, because Laura and I took it, and you know, in college, in, in Ohio, and we spent more time making sure we could identify ducks than, than

Laura: I do remember having to draw it, though, for sure, like, for a test.

Katy: Or that time that we almost died in the back of the van, because we

got, Yeah, going to the lake.

Laura: Um, so the, so bird respiratory [00:18:00] systems are bananas. They are proportionately larger and more efficient than ours, which makes sense because flying takes way more oxygen 

Katy: Oh, yeah. 

Laura: So, um, one fifth of a bird's body is taken up by respiratory organs, while a mammal is only one twentieth,

on

Katy: a crazy. 

Laura: So their lungs might be smaller and more rigid than ours, But they make up for that by having air sacs and a really intense way of breathing. So follow me here about how a bird breathes. So when we breathe, we waste a ton of oxygen. Because all we get is what's in our air sacs, in our lungs, in the alveoli, at the very little tips of all the branches in your lungs.

That's the only place that you're actually getting oxygen. And anywhere else is just wasted oxygen because nothing is being absorbed. So anything in your trachea or in like the beginning parts of your [00:19:00] lungs, wasted. Birds use every last speck of oxygen they can, um, by utilizing their air sacs. So birds breathe in.

This is, okay, most birds, of course, nature's got its exceptions, but most birds, most birds breathe in and air goes all the way down their bodies into these air sacs that they have down near their rears. Birds have several air sacs in their bodies. Think of them almost like a lung. Um, so they've got their air sacs, but they're really just like holding containers for air for a second.

So the air goes all the way down.

Katy: which is which is Just so more efficient than humans. I feel like humans we've evolved to be one of the least efficient creatures out there

But continue 

Laura: yeah, truly. Um, or, I mean, all the mammals, really. So, um, they breathe in, air goes to the sacs near the end. They breathe out, and it goes into their lungs, where gas exchange happens. Um, when they're, when they're, when [00:20:00] it's in the lungs doing that gas exchange, there is something that's called cross current circulation.

So, basically, the air is circulating one way in their lungs. The blood In the lung tissue is circulating the other way. So it's like scooping all the air as much as it can. And it way more efficient for gas exchange. Um, and instead of, instead of if you in your head can picture our lungs, and if you've ever seen a picture of a human lung and the little alveoli, they're like literally like little grape clusters at the end.

Birds don't have those birds have tubes. So these tubes, almost like a radiator, like in a car for cooling, you know, like it's, these tubes, and then the blood is going one way and the air is going the other way. Um, so that's breathe in air sacs, breathe out lungs, breathe in air goes then to the air sacs in the front of the bird.

While more air is already being taken into the back of the bird,

and then [00:21:00] they breathe out, and it goes out of their body. So it's like a four step rotation for one breath, while a second breath is already in the body. 

Katy: Yeah. It's almost like they breathe in and out at the same time.

Like, 

Laura: Or like, right, like, air is doing two things in their body at one 

Katy: at one. Yeah. For one step of breathing in. It's

It's moving around every single time.

Yeah. 

Laura: So, and weirdly enough, this actually, because they're so incredibly efficient, They don't have to breathe as much as we do. Um, per the amount of heartbeats, okay? So like, You know, all, all animals have different rates of heartbeats and different rates of respiration. But, you know, we're breathing like in and out, in and out, per so many heartbeats.

Birds are like heartbeat, heartbeat, heartbeat, breath, heartbeat, heart. So like, they can wait longer because they're absorbing so much oxygen because their bodies are just better at it. 

Katy: As an asthmatic, I'm

Laura: I know, right? They're just really good at breathing, [00:22:00] and the thing that I know that I didn't know is that their air sacs are even attached to the hollow areas of their bones.

So their bones are holding on to oxygen, like onto air. So 

Katy: yeah, I definitely didn't know that. 

Laura: of their air sacs. They are literally just little air bags flying through the air. 

Katy: Little airbags. I'm gonna take this up with our, uh, ornithology professor. I'm Facebook friends with his wife still. I'm gonna,

Laura: even tell us that their air sacs connected to their bones.

Katy: I'm gonna put in a complaint with his wife and let her, let him know.

Laura: Um, Alright. Muscles. This accounts for one sixth the weight of a bird, which makes sense that, yeah, birds are pretty jacked because they gotta be able to fly, and that takes a lot of muscle. Flight muscles are full of blood, hence when we say that a bird might have the dark meat, you know? Um, 

Katy: My favorite

Laura: the, definitely.

Thousand percent. Um,

Katy: Don't waste your time with white

meat. 

Laura: Um, dark [00:23:00] meat is the one that can sustain flight. Alright. Alright, so like, like birds that are flying all the time, they're like all dark meat, okay? White meat is really only found in birds that don't fly very much at all, because they don't need very much blood in those muscles, because they're 

Katy: That makes sense, yeah. 

Laura: So like a chicken, white meat, is on the breastbone. Why? Because chickens don't fly almost at all. So their breast, their, you know, breast muscles don't have to have very much circulation. Where like, if I were to eat like 

Katy: An albatross. 

Laura: yeah, or an albatross, um, dark meat.

Katy: dark meat right there.

Laura: So,

Katy: Please don't go eat

Laura: please don't, or peregrine falcons, 

Katy: Yeah, please. 

Laura: species.

Um, not advocating for it, but probably delicious. So, but they, so even though they're heavy, that's an, that, that's an added weight they have to make up for by losing something [00:24:00] else. Digestion. Birds have crazy fast metabolisms, as anybody who's ever worked with a bird can tell you. They're just pooping machines.

Katy: Every time, yeah.

Laura: So, I talked 

Katy: All the time. 

Laura: system, they just like ditched the whole urinary stuff, but they're also producing crazy amounts of waste. Small birds. Digest food in 45 minutes, alright?

Katy: Could you Okay, could

you imagine?

if that was humans?

Like, eat 

Laura: minutes later, poop it out clean as a whistle inside.

Katy: Clayton is a

Laura: Truly, I mean, because they can't 

Katy: I mean, 

Laura: in there.

Katy: that would honestly be pretty great.

I mean, 

Laura: great. I bet you'd feel a lot better. Um, so that's a small bird, and it can be even faster if you're like a fruit eater. Ostriches, of course, are the longest. They're not flighted. They don't need to poop as much. But even an ostrich poops it out in six hours. Okay. Whereas a human, average human, two to five days.

So what I ate two days ago is finally coming [00:25:00] out. Maybe longer, depending on what I ate. Um, gall I mean, uh, birds have also ditched their gallbladder.

Katy: Guess who needs it anyway?

Laura: it's only causing me issues, let me tell ya. Um, and they have a shorter rectum. So they've, again, they're like, you know what? Let's just shorten this process.

Birds are efficient. That is the best word for a bird. Birds are efficient as hell. They are just like, no extras. I am what I 

Katy: Cut it? 

Laura: I am made to fly. Like,

Katy: I am what I am and I'm made to fly.

Laura: I need to have that on a t shirt. I am what I am.

Katy: I'm made to fly.

Laura: one last thing. The circulatory system. So typically, birds have proportionately larger hearts. Then they're same size counterpart, mammalian counterparts that pump blood faster. Again, this is all about because of the energy required for flight, they have to have more oxygen in their [00:26:00] blood to give, and so their blood has to be pumping faster to carry that oxygen.

Hummingbirds, of course, have the largest heart compared to body size, um, and that's because their heart is beating up to 1,200 beats per minute. That's the record for a bird, 

Katy: I would die. 

Laura: 200 beats per minute, whereas humans, typically, 72 beats per minute. Like, um, and so what's cool about, so bird hearts though, other than that, bird hearts look just like human hearts.

I mean, we've got the four chambers just like they do, but there is something about, um, like the actual, uh, not chemical structure, but like the physical properties of a bird heart that has less friction. Yeah. when it pumps than a human heart. It creates less friction. I guess it's, I don't know if it's slipperier.

Like, I don't, I 

Katy: Those slippy hearts. 

Laura: got a slippery heart. Um, those slippery little hearts make it, which gives it [00:27:00] an easier time pumping. And if you have to be pumping 1, 200 times per minute, you need a slippery heart,

um, to get it done. So everything about a bird from their, their bones, To their organs, to their circulations, to their poop, like all of it.

It is about being efficient and adapted to flight, either by being lighter or by being stronger.

Katy: Which makes sense. Makes sense. Alrighty. Adaptations, you good? Alrighty. Let's talk about the physics then, behind it. And, and, and some of this obviously is going to overlap because, again, birds are efficient. Um, we're not, but, uh, birds are. Um, so I'm just going to go ahead and break down the physics of bird flight.

Um, and, uh, Sort of just give it, uh, give you the different things, the different parts of physics that play into bird parts that allows birds to fly, and then I'm going to give an example of, what, three [00:28:00] birds I think I

have that I'm going to be talking about?

Laura: like I've said, right, like this is, the birds are built to do it, but like how do they do it? I think a lot of people, like, people just accept that things can fly. I don't know if everyone understands it.

Katy: Why?

Yeah. Alright, so, uh, let's talk about, uh, you didn't really talk about evolution.

But I want to go into that just just a little bit because that's kind of like what has made flight possible Starting with like the feathers the wings and the body

shape Feathers are thought to have a first of all for insulation and for show But once they were around it turned out they were pretty useful for catching air.

Could you also

imagine the first time?

So it's like I 

Laura: just one hopping around or 

Katy: can fly 

Laura: tree to tree and being like, Whoa! I got way further than that, dude.

Katy: right. This is

useful. Not only 

Laura: is probably what it was, right? 

Katy: Not only do I look good, but I can fly like

just so proud of them. So, um, but feathers are definitely lightweight, but incredibly strong and their unique structure. Let's some trapper [00:29:00] making them perfect for generating lift, which I'll go over later over time.

Feathers have become more specialized on birds to fine tune the movements in air and control their flight more efficiently. Um, if you guys have never like handled a feather before.

How they zip, like how that, you know, you can zip them back up and everything. I mean, it is pretty cool. Um, it is illegal to own or grab

feathers, but 

Laura: glad you said that, because I was about to add that in.

Katy: right.

Yeah. So if you, if you grab one, pick it up, investigate it, and then wash your hands and then put it

back down on the 

Laura: like your own chicken feathers. I mean, yeah, if it's a native bird feather here in America, don't grab it. 

Katy: Yeah.

uh, there's laws against that, FYI. Um, so the feathers, then there's the wings, um, which really is, I don't know. I don't want to say where the magic happens, because that sounds so cheesy, but where the magic happens! Uh, the basic shape of a bird's wing is what makes flight possible. It's curved on the top and flat on the bottom, forming what's called an airfoil. [00:30:00] Again, I'll go into that a little bit in the physics part, but this design is crucial because it helps create lift.

Laura: I think a lot of people are going to be able to, hopefully a lot of you have at least seen an airplane, and that's on such a bigger scale.

Envision an airplane 

Katy: a little. It's a bigger scale and a simpler like it's because again, a bird. I mean, it's simple what birds do, but at the same time, there's so many parts of a bird's wing alone. That's adapted to fly. Whereas like an

airplane's like, meh, here's a

wing. Like, that's just, that's just that. Um, finally, the bird's overall shape.

Over millions of years, birds have evolved to sleek, streamlined bodies to reduce drag, making them more aerodynamic, which means they can cut through the air with less resistance, um, using less energy to fly. The shape of the bird's body, along with the lightweight, lighter weight skeleton ish, is key to maintaining efficient flight. So those three key parts definitely play a role And again, it slowly slowly slowly happened over time from dinosaurs and the birds everything so [00:31:00] and I mean we could literally do and I kind of want to do like a dinosaurs to now episode,

you know what I mean on just like the evolution because that'd be there's so many cool like Transition species that we need to talk

Laura: yeah

Katy: Alrighty, so let's get into the physics of it We're going to talk about lift thrust drag and gravity You All right, lift. All right. Without it, birds would literally be doing a whole lot of face planting into the ground. Like, that's just,

Laura: any of you have ever tried to fly This is what we're lacking

Katy: yeah, it's lift. All right. Well, birds wing, like I said before, is shaped like an airfoil. I know it's a real weird word, but it just means the wing is curved on the top and flatter on the bottom, just like Laura said, like an airplane wing. Um, and so this shape is a game changer because when air hits that wing, it's forced to spread out and speed up. This faster moving air creates lower pressure on the [00:32:00] top of the wing.

At the same time, the slower air under the wing has higher pressure.

Laura: up.

Katy: Pushing up,

yep, the difference in pressure, higher, higher, or sorry, higher below and lower above creates lift, which pushes the bird up. So high pressure, yeah, high pressure below pushes it up, low pressure above, and it

allows it, so it's not a, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

as long as I'm moving forward, um, so really the wing shape is what makes the air speed up and that speed difference is what gives the bird lift the whole understanding of lift is thanks to Bernoulli's principle, shout out to Bernoulli, Daniel Bernoulli, uh, who is a Swiss, Swiss mathematician who figured out that when, when the speed of a moving fluid, in this case, yeah, Error increases the pressure within that fluid decreases.

So the air zips over the wing and pressure drops and the bird gets a free ride upward. Bernoulli might not have been thinking [00:33:00] about birds, but I'm sure, you know, birds are probably a

big fan of his 

Laura: whatever we've been doing this for you know, a couple 

Katy: Yeah, millions of years, Bernoulli, right? All right. So that's lift. Now, thrust on the other hand, a lift alone isn't going to get a bird anywhere. Uh, they need some forward motion, and that's where thrust comes in. Every time a bird flaps its wings, it's basically pushing air backward. And in return, the air pushes that bird forward. Um, and again, this is another physics law, is Newton's third law. The one that says for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Um, so the bird says, you know, hey air, I'm going to push you this way. And the air is like, nope. Cool, I'm going to push you the opposite direction. And that's every single time a bird

Laura: So it's almost like they're swimming through 

Katy: Yeah. Essentially, yeah. Yeah, essentially, yeah. Even though, even though, like, I don't know, and if you've ever, um, I'm trying to think of an example of like, I don't know, if you've ever had like, take like a piece of paper or something

like that, you know what I [00:34:00] mean? 

Laura: window. Yeah. Yeah

Katy: yeah, yeah. Or yeah, put your hand out the car window or even like a kite, for instance, like take a kite and you try to, like, move it up and down, it's very easy to see, like, if you're holding a kite and moving it up and down, you can feel that push and everything. It's the same thing. So it's a constant back and forth with the bird using its wings a slice through the air and flapping isn't just the casual up and down motion. Uh, birds have half the time and just right down strokes for power. Um, and then they tote the wings a bit on the upward stroke to reset without losing too much

momentum. It's based. 

Laura: because it would create, you'd think it would be like a paddle. So, like, they've gotta push down, but they don't want to create drag going up.

Katy: correct. So it's, it's a spin.

It's the same thing as whenever you're 

Laura: like a serpentine thing with their wing.

Katy: yep, the same thing. Whenever you're kayaking or anything like

that, you have to think about how you're paddling, kayak and canoe. Um, it's just, it's the same thing because, yeah, it just expends energy. Um, and again, if you're [00:35:00] thinking of a paddle for like a canoe, all right, if you don't pick it up.

The paddle out properly as I'm doing the motion that unless you're on patron, you can't see, but if you want to see me doing these hand motions,

uh, support us on patron and you can see, see the whole video uploaded there. But if it doesn't come up right, then you're just going to be like, okay,

push it down to go forward. Yeah. And then you're pushing yourself backwards every time. And then you're like, okay, so it's like, it's the definition of like, two steps forward. You know, forceps back kind of thing, um, every single time. So to avoid that birds, they have to kind of tilt their wings at the right momentum in the right time. And different birds do that different ways based upon what they need.

And I'll get into that for a little bit. So Different birds specialize in different things and

so their wings are going to have to move in a 

Laura: ways. I mean, like, some birds flap a ton and some birds barely flap.

Katy: Yeah. All right. All right. Next 1 drag. Um, now, [00:36:00] if there was all smooth sailing from here, birds would have it easy, but of course, nothing in science or life ever is that simple. So, and enters drag. Alright, air

Laura: a drag.

Katy: right? Uhhh. Enderdrag. Air resistance, nature's way of saying, not so fast buddy, uh, drag is always trying to slow the bird down, uh, pulling on its wings, body, and tail, constantly. So what do birds do? Uh, they get sleek. Uh, their bodies are streamlined,

Laura: They get 

Katy: the air. I mean, that's what it

is. I don't, I didn't know what another word, it's like a torpedo. I didn't know, uh, what other word. Um, because it is a torpedo. You think of, and I'm going to get into it here in a second.

Some birds, like falcons, you know, take that definition of like to a whole other meaning. Um, they tuck their wings in during a dive to minimize drag, turning themselves into feathery missiles, essentially. All right, last one for, um, that one, for the four ones, parts of flight, and then I'll get into some bird examples here, [00:37:00] uh, is gravity.

Um, of course, 

Laura: know, just gravity,

Katy: gravity is, you know, just

Laura: the other big downer for birds,

Katy: What a drag, and then there's gravity. Um, um, But obviously it's always pulling everything back down to earth. Birds are constantly fighting for this invisible force and gravity is relentless. Obviously it's like playing a tug of war 24 seven, but birds have it down to a science to avoid that. They counteract gravity with lift that I already briefly talked about, and they also have a super are super precise about it.

They adjust the angle of their wings. Um, this is literally called the angle of attack to either create more lift or less, depending on what they need. Um, if they want to gain altitude, altitude, flap harder, tilt those wings upward, and you're on your way up. Want to descend, ease up on the lift, uh, let gravity take over, but without crashing, because that would, that would just be awkward to have your other bird friends see you crash. Um, it's basically [00:38:00] like flying a plane, if you think about that, except for birds are doing it all on autopilot, because that's just what they

Laura: And like the whole like learning to fly thing is just mind blowing, right? Like, you 

Katy: just kick you out of a nest and 

Laura: baby, but like you're already on the ground.

Katy: Yeah,

it's not so

bad. Yeah. Yeah, you're not teaching your human baby To walk on the edge of a 30 foot building and like if you fall, I mean,

hopefully Yeah, you better have your wings because like you're always you're gonna die. So

You know 

Laura: man. All of the, all of the science that they're not even thinking about, but like, better figure it out because otherwise, dead.

Katy: Yeah, man. I can't imagine talk about life trauma

all the birds That's why they're up so early screaming because they're just like on

their childhood trauma, You yeah.

Um, so I wanted to cover three birds because it is like they [00:39:00] are the definition of like three different kind of unique physics behind flying.

It's albatross falcon and a hummingbird.

Laura: If

Katy: now, I would trust they've got the basics down. So let's look at kind of a little bit more in depth. Um, Uh, so, this bird is the king of gliding for sure, and happens to be a tattoo I have on my back, if anyone's interested. One of Luke's favorites,

because if I, 

Laura: oh, okay.

Katy: if I, if I move my, if I move my arms, my shoulders back and forth, again, if you were on Patreon, you could see me flapping my arms, um, but when I do that, the bird flaps.

That's my son's favorite. Um, so. Albatross are found mostly in the southern hemisphere, especially around the southern ocean. But there are some species in northern Pacific places like Hawaii, Alaska, and Japan. They are one of my favorite birds.

They're really cool.

Uh, they're seabirds, which means they spend most of their lives in the open ocean, only coming to land to breed. Albatrosses are long lived birds, some species living over 60

years, one, [00:40:00] which is crazy. Um, one famous albatross named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, I think I said that right, Um, is over 70 years old and still laying eggs. Um, so speaking of eggs and babies, uh, albatross typically have one chick at a time, and they're not in a rush either.

Most albatross species only breed once every couple of years after the chick hatches, both parents take turns feeding it, flying back and forth from the ocean to bring it food. Um, and again, I don't know if 1 at a time, they're just like, okay, this 1 lives fantastic. And

then they wait, they, it's like, almost like, every other year, essentially, they're, they're having a chick, um, I would trust are also pretty popular for their long term relationships because they do form strong pairs and bonds.

They made for life. Um, returning to the same nest sites year after year to raise their young. So, just wanted to give a little natural history, and I'll give a little natural history on each of them, but

again, albatross, just really cool birds. Alright, so now the reason albatross can [00:41:00] glide for hours without flapping has everything to do with physics, specifically, good grief, or as my son says, pacifically, the forces that affect how it moves through the air. The secret is something called dynamic soaring, which I don't know, just sounds like a weird word, but it's pretty simple. Uh, the Albatross used dynamic soaring to essentially ride the wind. So, here's how it works. The bird takes advantage of the wind currents above the ocean. The wind near the surface is slower because of friction with the water, but higher up it's much faster.

So albatross does this clever little move. It dips down into the slower air near the surface then rises up into the faster air higher up. This creates a cycle where it picks up speed going up and then coasts down. It's kind of like Compared to like, uh, I don't know, like a surfer rides the top of a wave to keep going without

paddling, essentially. And so it's just going to keep going up and down and up and down. And it's, I [00:42:00] mean, I didn't look and see how many like flaps and albatross does, but it's like, Insanely

slow compared to other birds that are like flap, flap, flap. No, it's like flap.

Wait forever. Flap. Wait forever. Um,

Laura: Again, where that rigid skeleton comes in handy.

Katy: right. Right. Very much.

So, um, as the Albatross moves between layers of the air, it uses the different, uh, The difference in wind speed to gain energy, almost like it's in a way, it's like stealing speed from the wind itself, because it's like, you know, using that momentum and taking advantage of that, um, this lesson cover huge distances without flapping its wings much saving a ton of energy. So instead of constantly battling drag or flapping for thrust, the Albatross lets the wind do the heavy lifting, gliding effortlessly for hours upon hours.

Um, plus it's long, it has very long, narrow winds, wings that are just built for

Laura: Yeah, yeah.

Katy: They, they [00:43:00] minimize drag and maximize lift, meaning the Albatross can stay aloft for ages without burning out and getting tired. So in terms of energy efficiency, the Albatross is definitely like

Laura: Gotta figure it out.

Katy: yeah, of peak of like long distance flying. Here we go. I can do this and use very, very little energy to do so. So Albatross, uh, next one, the Peregrine Falcon. Um,

Laura: is, how weird is it that, well, I mean, I guess, because we were thinking of, like, example birds. You talk about eating albatross. I'm talking about eating peregrine falcon. I bring up hummingbird hearts. And you're like, yeah, 

Katy: all

three of

Laura: birds.

Katy: We're, we're just that amazing, Laura, that we just, we just know without knowing. For those that are newer listeners, Laura and I have no idea. Like we. We pick kind of, like, the themes, and then we pick the ideas within those themes, send them off to a third person, make sure we don't repeat them, and then that's how we do our episodes.

Um, so we don't know what the other one's talking about whenever we come into these. [00:44:00] But somehow Laura and I always end up crossing information. Alright, so, Peregrine Falcon. Let's switch gears and talk about them a little bit. So, Albatross is the king of gliding. The Peregrine Falcon is definitely the The king of speed, uh, the bird doesn't just fly.

It dies essentially like a

missile Peregrine Falcons. 

Laura: the planet.

Katy: Yes. Uh, Peregrine Falcons are from pretty much everywhere except Antarctica, and they can adapt all kinds of environment from Tundra to top tropical forest. These birds have even moved into cities, uh, where the buildings act like the perfect cliffs for them to nest on.

And I want to say like, for the most part, like most cities in the U S anyway, have. Peregrine falcons like they're, they're just everywhere. Um, they're medium sized birds using only a few pounds with a wingspan about three to four feet. I didn't really say I don't think the albatross wingspan, but it's like

Laura: It's huge.

Yeah,

Katy: 10 plus feet, I think I want to say.

Laura: I'll look it up, you keep 

Katy: Yeah. Could you look it up? [00:45:00] Um, but don't let their small size fool you. These birds are incredibly powerful. They've falconry, which is hunting with birds for thousands of years because they're insane speed and precision. Um,

Laura: 8 to 11 and a half.

Katy: What was it?

Laura: 8 to 11, uh, 8 to 11 and a half, or like anywhere from 6 to 11 and a half for

Katy: Yeah, we're just crazy.

Um, all right. So we talk a little bit of natural history. So, yeah, a paragon falcon is only what would I say? 3 to 4 feet. Yeah, so significantly

Laura: Yeah, but they're not made for gliding, they're made for speed.

Katy: for diving. Yep. Um, they typically have 3 to 4 chicks per brood, and the parents show the responsibilities of feeding and protecting them.

Alrighty. So let's go on to the physics behind the bending speed. Alright, so first off, when a peregrine falcon is cruising normally, its wings are outstretched, and it's using thrust from flapping to maintain forward motion, like most birds. But, [00:46:00] when it spots prey, one of its favorite foods being pigeons, thank god, just kill

them all, um, My least favorite bird being attacked by one of my favorite birds.

I love peregrine falcons. Um, when it spots prey and it goes into the hunting dive or what's called the stoop, everything changes about that bird. The falcon pulls its wings and tights making its upper body streamlined. This minimizes drag, um, which again is that force that tries to slow the bird down, letting the falcon accelerate quickly. So here's where gravity takes over. Once the falcon is in the dive, gravity basically does the rest of the work. This bird is essentially falling, but it controls the fall using that streamlined body shape to reach speeds that make it the fastest animal in the world, led me down a bit of a tangent and a rabbit hole. Of thinking just bear with

me guys here. I mostly just had to share this with Laura. Okay. So I was doing this. I was like, okay, they're the fastest animal in the world, but what would it take for like [00:47:00] another animal to be the fastest animal in the world? Okay.

Like, listen to me. 

Laura: of the Peregrine Falcons and then be the fastest. Oh. Heh. Heh. 

Katy: thinking, like, physically, like, what would it have to do, like, to adapt? For once, you're the one trying to kill everything, and I'm the one that's over here, like, okay, well, adaptations. So I was thinking, like, okay, take some of our, like, animals here, alright? okay, so terminal velocity, just to give you guys some, like, concept here, alright? Peregrine falcons are 200 plus miles an hour whenever they

dive, alright? 

Laura: to that.

Nothing's even close.

Katy: Well, no, because terminal velocity is at 150 miles per

hour. Okay, so let's just for instance, this is Such a horrible example, but this is where my brain went people ADHD. Thank God. Okay If you dropped an elephant out of the back of a plane, Alright?

Laura: It would reach terminal velocity when?

Katy: It would hit terminal velocity at [00:48:00] 150 miles an hour. Like, it can't go any faster because that's terminal velocity.

Laura: how, how long would it take to reach that?

Katy: oh gosh, I don't know. Hold on, let me see. Can't be long. I mean, especially if you're starting at like 30, 000 feet, you know?

Laura: Somebody has to, had to have done the math on this.

Katy: Oh yeah.

Laura: Ooh. I'm reading that, that never does reach terminal velocity.

Katy: Which one?

Laura: Physicsclassroom. com? Oh.

Katy: Yeah, but what doesn't reach

Laura: Oh, the elephant.

Katy: don't know what that was.

Laura: Oh, because, so it says the elephant requires a greater speed to accumulate sufficient upward air resistance force.

Katy: on, wait, where are you reading this? Because, like, did somebody else talk about the, the [00:49:00] theoretic of pushing an elephant off of a

Laura: It would be the elephant and the feather air resistance experiment. Which would fall faster, a feather or an elephant? That's like a, and so that, the,

Katy: Apparently it's a

Laura: apparently,

And then there's Quora. If a fully grown African elephant was dropped from an altitude of 100 miles, what would the speed be at which it hits the earth?

Katy: But see, I was just going at it as, like, what would the elephant have to do? Because I, I was thinking, like, okay, so, like, an elephant, all right? Like, could, could it, could it reach the speed of, like, A peregrine falcon that everything that I

Laura: Although they're saying, somebody else here thinks that they've done the math and the terminal velocity for an elephant is probably around 56 miles per hour.

Katy: which I mean, I can see because, okay, so here's where I'm going with this. All right. So you [00:50:00] think about the peregrine falcon, how it's streamlined, right? It tucks in its wings, tucks in its leg. The body shape is a torpedo. Plus it's tiny in itself. All right. However, on the flip, an elephant is not, you know what I mean?

So like an elephant would have to like, tuck his legs and tuck his ears back. Like, I don't know, stick its trunk straight out or like,

You know what I

mean? Like, it's just not aerodynamic. I'm

Laura: the internet is so great. This last thing, somebody then was like, um, how big, so the person didn't even ask, oh, and is there a way to calculate the size of a crater it would make when the elephant hit the ground? Yes, there is.

Katy: not the only one See, I was laughing so hard when I was like, when my brain went there, but now I feel like, okay and validated that like, I'm not the only one that thinks of these weird

Laura: Um, yeah, no, somebody calculated that they, probably about 4. 5 meters in diameter of a crater.

Katy: That doesn't seem big enough, I

feel Like Well, I guess it depends on the [00:51:00] height of

Laura: I don't know what you're supposed to you're supposed to use, um, impact velocity, object mass, material of the impact surface, and the impact angle. That all affects crater size.

Katy: Jeez Louise.

Laura: So, so what would an elephant have to do so the elephant would have to

Katy: I mean,

essentially not exist. There's, there's not, because, okay, because that, and that's what you were saying, like, that you just read that it was, like, 50 something miles per hour, because it's so big, okay? So then I was like, okay, what's something that's, like, smaller, but also aerodynamic, like a cheetah, like, if you threw a chucked

cheetah out 

Laura: cheetah out of a plane. 

Katy: well, like, would that be better?

And the answer is yeah, I mean, it is better, it would be better, because, like, a cheetah is built for speed. But again, it still wouldn't, it still wouldn't be able to go fast enough. Like everything that I was like going and I was researching and finding, I went down probably a whole of this for almost two hours, looking up like how fast [00:52:00] you would have to chuck something out of a back of a plane, um, for it to get to the speed of a Peregrine Falcon.

And essentially like Peregrine Falcons, they're going so fast. Because every it's almost like I don't want to say they're like cheating physics, but essentially they are like they're yes They're adapted to but it's it's so specifically That's what we were talking about earlier like that there that it's so adapted

that they're so of 

Laura: the drag.

Katy: yes

that 

Laura: slice through the air like nothing else can.

Katy: that nothing else can I mean an elephant?

Yeah. No, duh, of course

Laura: But even another bird, like, they're not as sleek, as streamlined, as, yeah.

Katy: No, no, so chuck an elephant or chuck a cheetah out of the back of the out of the back of a plane And I mean a cheetah definitely stands a better chance because again like it is it's sleek. It's skinny But it's and it is aerodynamic as far as mammals are concerned Um, but yeah, it's just it's [00:53:00] still just not as aerodynamic Like I said as a as a peregrine

falcon, 

Laura: have to chop the legs off in order for it, like, Like

Katy: you would have to chop the legs off You would have to I mean the

fur 

Laura: I'd be really interested to see how fast a penguin could get. Because I, I think a penguin is very 

Katy: torpedo like 

Laura: because of the water, which also has incredible resistance. So I bet if anything could come close, I actually bet it's a penguin.

Katy: probably like a, a jackass, like the um,

Laura: Because they are just, like, there is, they are made to completely reduce drag of water.

Katy: I, I, I bet you're right, because, yeah, they are, they

are pretty good. They are torpedo 

Laura: They're just a, just a, yeah, just a little football.

Katy: and again, like, it's not like they have huge wings to

make like, because that's what most animals and even other birds. That's what most

birds problems are is they can't tuck their

wings. 

Laura: Like, the falcons 

Katy: get in the way 

Laura: wings to tuck extra close, but like, a penguin's already got them in close.[00:54:00] 

Katy: because they don't really have because their

wings aren't meant for flapping

penguin, 

Laura: chuck that, chuck that penguin out of plane and tell it to point its nose downward. No flailing. No

Katy: your neck out. Yeah. Don't, don't,

shhh, Don't.

struggle. I sure like

Laura: That's 

Katy: penguins out of the back of a plane.

Laura: Smile and wave, boys. Smile

Katy: You Smile and wave.

I would definitely do an, uh, uh, an African black footed penguin, the jackass

penguins, because they're small, because again, that's the other thing, is like, cheetah, elephant, like, they're so big that the surface area,

in a pair, 

Laura: darts, like they're a little dart 

Katy: they are.

Very much so, very much so. Alrighty. So that was a two hour tangent, thankfully. Thank God for you guys. That took not even five minutes. Um, because it took me way longer. I just kept asking questions and getting deeper,

deeper into like,

elephant death

holes and stuff. So

Laura: Yeah.

Katy: all [00:55:00] righty. Um, so at speeds like it's a Bergen Falcon's body is built to handle some serious air pressure.

It's strong chest muscles like Laura saying helps it keep control. Um, and special They're called baffles, and the nostrils prevent air from

rushing in too fast and overwhelming the

Laura: Yeah, for anybody who remember when you were a kid and you stuck your head out the window and you're like, I

Katy: Which, clearly, Laura has done more than once.

Laura: can't breathe.

Katy: right? But without those adaptations, the sheer speed would probably knock the bird out mid dive. Because, again, it's 200 miles an hour, it's, it's going so much faster than what anything else could go. Um, while again, with the program, Falcon, where gravity is pulling it downward, the Falcon uses the angle of its dive to maintain control and direct his path almost like a pilot steering a plane, essentially,

when it's close to striking the prey. 

Laura: it hits.

Katy: It is. If you guys have never seen a [00:56:00] peregrine falcon killing a pigeon, because as soon as it goes to hit it, it, it flares out its wings and tail at the, at the very last second. When I say the very last second, I mean

the very, 

Laura: even imagine the forces acting on those poor wings?

Katy: oh my

gosh, 

Laura: have to have a rigid structure. It would rip the wings off of 

Katy: right off. Could you

Laura: Like, you put them out and they just rip off backwards. Like, because they're going, you're stopping flat at 200 

Katy: 200 miles an 

Laura: Rip your arm off.

Just rip it off.

Katy: oh my gosh, but if you haven't I was gonna say if you haven't seen a video of a peregrine falcon attacking like getting a bird please do it is insane because it's literally just All of a sudden you just see the peregrine falcon spread out and then just

a ball of feathers But yeah, because it's

so fast 

Laura: just because it's hitting so hard.

Cause 200 miles, like, it's just 

Katy: Over 200 miles an hour. Yeah. Alright, so the last one I want to brief, [00:57:00] very briefly talk about here is the hummingbird.

Alright. 

Laura: thing, now I'm on a tangent. Do you think it would kill you if a peregrine falcon hit you in the head at 200 miles an hour?

Katy: Oh, it would have to.

Laura: Cause that's like 5 pounds, right?

Katy: Hold on, let me look here.

Laura: Cause like a baseball would.

Katy: Oh, yeah.

Laura: But a baseball's not that hea is even less heavy. But it's smaller, so maybe the impact

Katy: Uh, females are 1. 5 to 3. 3 pounds and males are, uh, like 0. 73 to 2. 2 pounds. I I think it would.

I think it 

Laura: would. It'd

Katy: I think it would. Again, it's just the sheer mass. Even though it's like, muscle and like flabbiness, you know what I mean? Just, but still, I think it would

Laura: be messy either way.

Katy: Yeah. Ew. It's messy either way.

That would be so gross.

Laura: Sorry, now you can continue 

Katy: Okay, now hummingbirds, [00:58:00] uh, we can go up on these tangents all day, folks, all day. All right. So now the hummingbirds hovering ability is, uh, like nothing else in the bird world. The physics behind it is really interesting. And again, I'm just going to scratch this on the surface

level. 

Laura: go watch a slow mo video of a hummingbird.

Katy: It's crazy. So instead of flapping its wings up and down like other birds, hummingbirds move their wings in a figure eight pattern. This lets them generate lift on both the upstroke and the downstroke, which is crazy.

Imagine they're paddling the air like a rowboat, you know, except they're rowing in all directions at once, essentially.

Like they're just yeah, they're just doing it all. This unique wing motion gives them the ability to hover in place, fly backwards, and dart side to side. all with incredible precision. It's kind of like how helicopters

work, sort of, um, but where the blades spin in a way that just lets them hover in one spot and move to another direction, or move to another area. Um, but here's where the physics kick in. To [00:59:00] hover, hummingbirds need a lot of lift. Their wings beat so fast that they're generating lift almost constantly, but it does come at a cost, the huge energy

consumption. Remember, like, the albatross barely uses any energy

at all, 

Laura: guys have the 1200 beat heart, 

Katy: Yeah, these guys are just using up energy like it's no one's business here, and that's why they need to eat so often.

But because their wing beats so are so rapid, they generate just the right amount of thrust to balance gravity and keep them suspended, suspended and mid air. The shape of their wings also plays a big role. Unlike most birds, which have long, stiff wings, hummingbirds have shorter, more flexible, easily. And they are more flexible at the shoulder joint. This flexibility allows them to adjust the angle and speed of their wing beats to get the exact amount of lift they need for hovering and darting around. So it's all about, you know, maximizing the control and the minimal wing area, which

makes [01:00:00] them so agile. 

Laura: at the exact right height for that flower and then maintain that height. Not too much high, not too much low. Like, I can't imagine like just maintaining it.

Katy: right. Would be crazy. Um, so their wing muscles make up about 30 percent of their total body weight, giving them the power they need for rapid wing beats. Um, just for comparison, most average human muscle makes up about 40 percent of their body weight. Um, and since the how many words metabolism is so fast, they're burning through energy.

Like I said, like, crazy to keep up overall. This energy investment is worth it. They can hover reverse and change direction in the blink of an eye, making them 1 of the most maneuverable birds on the planet.

Laura: I mean, they're like a dragonfly, but they're a bird, not an insect.

Katy: Yeah,

which, which is

great. Yeah, 

Laura: They actually, and they need so much food, that they actually, they actually go through, it's not hibernation, but they go through torpor at night. Like, they actually, In order [01:01:00] to not die in the night. Like, because that's how much energy they need.

Like, they have to slow everything down to a state of, like, a coma.

Go into a coma every night, and then wake up and do it all again. Sounds exhausting.

Katy: Poor little hummingbirds.

Laura: Yeah, I would not want to be a hummingbird. And then having to fly to Mexico from when you're, like, this big? 

Katy: Yeah, right? 

Laura: you. No thank you.

Katy: Right? Goodness. Well, that's everything about the physics of birds on my part

then. 

Laura: are freaking crazy, man.

Katy: Yeah. And a little bit of Death elephants from above and penguins and that's gonna be my next rabbit hole Then I'll research more of the penguin

stuff. Alright, so like we said the beginning of episode We're now called wildly curious. Make sure you guys check us out on patreon be wildly curious and then check out Let's see here. Yeah, the website be wildly curious calm and where we have merch there as well and That's a patron. Yeah, I [01:02:00] said patron

Laura: and, uh, Patreon.

Katy: and patron. Yeah, there. I mean, I'm a patron. Let me show you guys what you'll see. The biggest thing you'll get there is the videos.

All right. So, by supporting us and helping Laura and I keep going with all this stuff, you'll be able to watch the full video. So, right now, you're hearing the audio on Patreon. You'll be able to see just all

our weirdness. Yeah.

and it's, it's unedited whenever whenever we do that too. So, it's always fun.

So yeah, make sure you check us out there. Next week, we're back with another cave episode. So that's going to be exciting. And Laura will be talking, um, about, I forget whatever's next, but whatever Laura has next.

For the first two episodes was the, the methane cave. And then I talked about the, the, the unicorn, Siberian unicorn.

And then I guess you just have

to listen next week to what 

Laura: sure that mine is, um, of biblical proportions.

Katy: Ah,

biblical proportions. 

Laura: sure.[01:03:00] 

Katy: Probably. Alright guys, well this has been another new ish episode of Wildly Curious, so thank you guys for listening and listen to us next

Laura: See yo!