Re: poling dangers

[Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>]

> In my imagination, first the Q. flies around the pond scouting for bad 
> guys. Seeing none he descends to feed. If the pond is a known croc 
> haven, it will be avoided. Probably its Q. heaven, devoid of bad guys.
>
> Could it take off? The body is floating like a football at the 
> surface. Raising the wings brings them into the air. Perhaps it took 
> off like a duck?

Well, I can see 'scouting', but Qn would not take off like a duck.  In 
fact, it took off "in reverse order" compared to a duck, in the sense 
that the forelimbs leave last, rather than the hindlimbs leaving the 
ground last (which allows ducks to run over the water while flapping).  
If the water was relatively deep (which is what seemed to be implied), 
such that the animal was poling on the forelimbs only, I cannot see how 
it would take off.  In shallow water it is not an issue; but in deep 
water the forelimbs simply could not move through the fluid fast enough 
to initiate a proper launch, as best I can make out.  In addition, if 
the animal is floating to any significant degree, it will have an 
awfully hard time pre-loading the forelimbs for launch (imagine trying 
to leap into the air without being able to bend your knees much).


Cheers,

--Mike H.