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The wing would prove pretty much useless unless it aided as a means of flight or temportal flight.
Or added some other advantage-- such as allowing a predator to gain a wee bit more speed or jump just a little bit farther.
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Any malformation would result in the bird unable to fly. I just dont see a small mutation increasing the feathered animal's ability to glide/fly.
Why not? Take it out of context to get a new perspective. Think about cats. Cats can survive falls from incredible heights-- note... survive, not survive unharmed. Please don't throw cats off skyscrapers. They do this by spreading themselves out like little kites. It slows their fall. If cats were in an environment where the danger of such falls were high-- say, a feral population living on cliffs-- those that manage this gliding/parachuting trick best would have an advantage. Why couldn't a small mutation alter fur texture and slow the falling cat just a bit more? From 60mph down to 58mph? Maybe that isn't much, but when you are living on the edge, any edge is an edge, right?
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I dont particularly see a feathered creature without any of these abilities, have any advantage over any other feathered creatures, infact I see any feathered animal with 2 less limbs at a distinct disadvantage.
Wings aren't lost limbs. Winged creatures still have four limbs.
But on the subject of lost limbs, ever see a T-Rex skeleton? Note those tiny little arms. They are about as functional as your hands would be if they were attatched directly to your nipples. Snakes do quite well with no limbs at all, and have done quite well for about 130 million years. The 'loss of limbs isn't advantageous' approach doesn't work. Other creatures have lost limbs, and it has worked.
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I see what you're saying, and I am trying to picture it from a 'flying squirrels' perspective, however any mutation would have to be significant enough for the animal to actually have an advantage right ?
For the mutation to be 'set' in the population, yes. But it doesn't have to be a big advantage. Think of it these terms. In an Olympic level competition, the difference between first place and fourth place is usually a matter of 1 or 2 percent.
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Also you didn't answer my question about why flying squirrels didn't replace normal squirrels ?
Why would they? Flying squirrels don't have to be somehow better than all other squirrels. They just have to be good enough to survive in their particular environment.
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I mean literally something that would give this animal instant gliding ?
Think about the cats. Really, it is the same situation.
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For instance it still leaves me to wonder about the dragon fly, butter fly etc. Surely those creatures had no need to glide ?
Ever seen a small bug in the wind? Think about this. If you are a small animal you may need wings to control the flying, not to initiate it.
You may be interested in...
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/...inos/Archaeopteryx.shtml
What Good is Half a Wing [Shortened long link. --Admin]
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/2421/evolve.htm
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[This message has been edited by Admin, 08-15-2003]