A late post on pubmed has stirred my ira , and forced me to confront today ’s approach to science . No longer can we model back , hiding behind figurer good example . It ’s time for experimentation .
Today , hard work and articulatio cubiti grease do n’t get you very far . Not when you have to derive up against flashy tech and untestable hypothesis . Sometimes the unmanageable path and the righteous path are the same . We must turn aside from airy speculation and toward hard , grinding , experimental scientific discipline in rescript to move onwards with the interrogative that burn our minds and countersink firing to our spirits .
I am touch on , of course , to the interrogation of whether giraffes can drown .
A recent Pubmed postal service proposed to answer this dubiousness through flashy computer modeling .
“ A like mannequin of a horse ( Equus caballus ) was used as a control , and its floating conduct replicates the observed orientation course of immersed horse . The float camelopard model has its cervix sub - horizontal , and the animal would struggle to keep its head clear of the water system open . Using an isometrically scaled - down Giraffa camelopardalis framework with a total mass equal to that of the horse , the giraffe ’s proportionately larger limbs have much higher rotational inertias than do those of cavalry , and their wetted surface area are 13.5 % greater relative to that of the sawbuck , thus making speedy swim motions more strenuous . . . .We happen that a full - sized , adult giraffe will become perky in water supply deeper than 2.8 m. While it is not impossible for giraffes to swim , we chew over that they would perform poorly compared to other mammals and are hence potential to avoid swimming if possible . ”
Now I do n’t doubt that these multitude have done a fine job of estimating the rotational inactiveness of a Giraffa camelopardalis ’s stage , its bouyancy , and its wet surface orbit , but it that enough ? Can we ride back on our laurels and get such a closed book stay on ? No !
I ’m sorry , but this is not satisfactory . Whatever happened to rigorous examination ? Whatever hap to real world experience ? Whatever happened to filming it all and set it to the theme from The Poseidon Adventure ?
I expect you , fellow Io9ers , to link up me in support of a tryout of this theory . I will not rest until we ’ve build up a elephantine pool , acquisitioned a immense crane , blow up some elephantine emergency piss wings , and tried this out . No more theory . Let ’s throw a Giraffa camelopardalis in a puddle .
And if it swim , it ’s a enchantress .
ViaPubmed .
BiologyMadsciencePhysicsScience
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