We’ve all seen Eagle’s hunt, but the Golden eagle has a special hunting tactic. It uses this thing called gravity to create dinner out of some unlikely, and unlucky prey. The Golden Eagle has been known to take turtles and baby goats and drop them from heights in order to instantly kill them.
By time the prey hits the ground, they’re either dead or dying.
And if that’s not bad enough, mongolian hunters have been known to use Golden Eagles to kill foxes and wolves, as they are extremely ferocious predators. They actually use their talons to go straight for the heart.
Exhibit C:
Source
Cracked.com (humorous site, true info, but I will warn you about its language)
As previously stated, bats are the only mammals truly capable of flight. But why is this? Of all the species of mammals, why is it that only the Order Chiroptera can achieve flight? And how did such an extraordinary adaptation come to be? Well...the answer is...we really are not sure. But there is evidence that may lead to the answer.
In order for bats to be able to fly, their forelimbs had to undergo huge changes. The problem is that between the beginning and end of the evolution of the bat's wing, how did the intermediary species survive when the evolutionary adaptation would not prove to be an advantage until evolution was complete? This question was in fact an argument brought up against Darwin's theory of natural selection by St. George Mivart. Mivart argued, "What good is 2% of a wing?" The theory of relativity presented a problem, as the bats' ancestors would not be "fit" to survive with only a partially evolved wing. Fossil records suggest that while birds slowly evolved the ability to fly, the current yet incomplete fossil record for bats suggests that they may have rapidly evolved wings.
Scientists looked to test this theory, by isolating an mRNA sequence prx1, which is fond in bats and mice and regulates forelimb size. The scientists have found that this gene is present in elevated levels in bats, and in more moderate levels in mice. Sure enough, when mice embryos were given additional prx1, their limbs were slightly, but still significantly longer than the average mouse. When prx1 was removed, though, there were no visible changes. This test supports the thory that bats' evolution may have been rapid, as it seems that it takes very few genetic changes to elongate the limbs.
We have learned that vortices can have devastating effects when an airplane flies through the wash of another airplane. The wings cause powerful spirals of air moving clockwise off the left wing and counterclockwise coming off the right wing. This holds for birds flying as well. The same vortex patterns emerge, albeit slightly different since the wings are in motion relative to the body.
Now, imagine looking up on a fall day and seeing a flock of geese flying in the V formation we have all seen before. That formation is unique and a brilliant adaptation for flying long distances. Let's break it down and see why that is the optimal positioning.
First, let's imagine the birds flying in a straight line all at the same distance from the ground. The way the spirals of air are turning means that the bird will be constantly fighting the effects of those air spirals pushing it down towards the ground, making flight more laborious to stay at the same altitude. It's a bit difficult to imagine but look at the picture above and visualize the wingtips being halfway through each spiral. The air will be coming over the top of each wing pushing down as it continues to finish the spiral. This means significantly more work for the bird overall.
But that's not where the birds fly. They fly in a V, each one staggered slightly above the bird in front of it and either to its left or right side. Now picture where this puts the wings of the bird. One will be clear from all turbulent air and the other sitting above the vortex in such a way that the spiral actually pushes the wing and bird UP.
Lets take the case of a goose flying to the left of the bird in front of it. Its left wing will be clear of the turbulence so we will ignore it. The right wing however will have the vortex coming up from underneath it pushing it up as it attempts to complete the spiral. It's the opposite effect of flying directly behind the bird. The draft from the lead bird helps the bird following it fly with less effort.
Geese use this technique to cover far more ground than they would be able to if they were flying alone. Each bird rotates into the lead position, taking turns flying in what is the most difficult position since it lacks the helpful updraft. This way they all tire less quickly and can fly further with the amount of energy they have. In the picture below you can see the all-famous Blue Angels team utilizing this effect to fly close together to perform their breathtaking aerobatics.
It is well known that the first powered and piloted flight of an aircraft was performed by two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright. These two brothers designed a glider-based aircraft that was powered by a 4-stroke engine. The design also had a 32-foot wingspan and weighed about 700 pounds. This aircraft came to be known as the Flyer. While this aircraft did not incorporate flapping flight like that of a bird or ornithopter, the design had many characteristics similar to that of a bird's wings.
Before actually designing the Flyer, the Wright Brothers did a lot of research regarding early flight models and how they failed. They would use the failures of previous flight enthusiasts to their advantage to build a plane that would fly without crashing or breaking down in flight like the others did before. The Wright brothers also did a great deal of studying on the flight of birds. They observed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver and the two brothers believed that they could find a way to implement this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing.
Wing Warping or Twisting in Birds
Wing Warping in Wright Brothers' Flyer
The Wright brothers used a technique known as wing warping to change the shape of their wing to allow their design to turn and maneuver better. In this process the trailing edges of the wings of their flying machine twist in opposite directions. This allows the wing to become more aerodynamic and produce more lift, which in 1903 was crucial, because the engines made back then could not produce enough power to generate vast amounts of lift that would make it very easy to generate lift. Due to the lack of power from the engine, the idea of wing warping needed to be used to produce extra lift. By warping the wing and twisting the trailing edges of each wing in opposite directions, the wings on the aircraft become very similar to that of a birds. The wings on the aircraft do not flap obviously, but the twist in the wing emulates the twist in the wing that birds have which helps them be more agile and aerodynamic while flying.
The concept of a self propelling, romote controlled vehicle that would have to ability to fly through windows and spy on enemies has always been considered science fiction. They have been seen in movies such as James Bond or Transformers but now, scientists are figuring out ways to make these vehicles reality.
The Samurai Prototype
These devices are remote-controlled, battery-powerd vehicles that have two flapping wings that weigh about 2 grams, and is just over three inches in length. They are being developed to hopefully one day be able to have sensors and be used as spies to report back on enemy position. The project is partly funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is called the Nano Aerial Vehicle (NAV) program. It aims to develop an extremely small, ultra-lightweight aerial vehicle for urban military missions that can fly both indoors and outdoors and is capable of climbing and descending vertically as well as flying sideways left and right.
Devices like this have never been developed to actually be efficient in battle and they push the limit of aerodynamic and power conversion efficiency, endurance, and maneuverability. The flight of the vehicle resembles that of a hummingbird and was designed by AeroVironment and called the Nano Scout.
The scout is designed to fly forwards at speeds up to 20 mph, slow down to one mph for precise navigation, operate inside buildings, withstand 5 mph gusts, and have a range of over a 1/2 mile. The scout has broken barriers by being able to hover itself and it only uses the two wings as propulsion. It also carry's its own power source and can last from 11 to 20 minutes.
One of the biggest problems that faces the Scout is navigation. The Scout would be operated in congested urban areas and there is not much GPS signal availability in theses areas. This is forcing the team to try and develop vision-based sensors and systems.
In order to try and advance to design researches are looking to insects as inspiration. They are researching the nerve physiology of insects to design better nervous systems for the Scout. They realize that many structures of insects are multifunctional and many times are multitasking without even knowing about it.
Research for the Scout is still in the early stages and there is still mush more to figure out. But, within 10 to 15 years, the fully perfected Scout will be on the battlefield.
