Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27966940-20180117043937/@comment-4136655-20180303115744

SomeoneYouUsedToKnow wrote: Sinjoh wrote This is why I brought up Argentavis. While extinct, Argentavis is quite the big bird, estimates put it at a height of 1.5-2m (4.9-6.6ft), a mass of 70-72kg (154-159lbs), and a wingspan of 5.09-6.07m (16.6-19.ft). Quite human sized I would say, and was still capable of flight. ......Yeah, I looked it up on wikipedia, and this is what I found:

''The ability to fly is not a simple question of weight ratios, except in extreme cases; size and structure of the wing must also be taken into account. As a rule of thumb, a wing loading of 25 kg/m2 is considered the limit for avian flight.[6] The heaviest extant flying birds are known to weigh up to 21 kg (46 lb). A mute swan, which may have personally lost the power of flight due to extreme weight, was found to have weighed 23 kg (51 lb).[7] ''

''The largest known flying creatures overall are not birds, but instead the azhdarchid pterosaurs of the Cretaceous. The wingspans of larger azhdarchids, such as Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx, have been estimated to exceed 10 m (33 ft), with less conservative estimates being 12 m (39 ft) or more. Mass estimates for these azhdarchids are on the order of 200–250 kg (440–550 lb)''

And more down below on the page:

''From the size and structure of its wings, it is inferred that A. magnificens flew mainly by soaring, using flapping flight only during short periods. It is probable that it used thermal currents as well. It has been estimated that the minimal velocity for the wing of A. magnificens is about 11 m/s or 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph).[11] 'Especially for takeoff, it would have depended on the wind.''

''Although its legs were strong enough to provide it with a running or jumping start, the wings were simply too long to flap effectively until the bird was some height off the ground.[3] However, skeletal evidence suggests that its breast muscles were not powerful enough for wing flapping for extended periods. ''

So, no, your giant flying bird wasn't capable of true flight. It fell-with-style.

Also, more of a nitpick, but I don't think Faunus can have traits of animals that existed like 7 million years ago in the real world. Unless there was a dinosaur Faunus somewhere and no one ever noticed.

So using an extinct, millions-of-years-old bird as an argument here might not be the best argument one can make. Soaring or gliding is considered a form of bird flight. Modern birds, such as condors, eagles, vultures, frigatebirds, sea gulls, and albatrosses also use this technique as well, allowing them to maintain flight with minimal loss of energy.

My argument here was to show that Faunus with wings, similar to Argentavis, would in all likeliness need to have a large wingspan in order to fly or maintain flight.