Whenever I see this picture I think of this:
| Creature | Swims | Walks | Flies |
| -------- | ----- | ----- | ----- |
| Dog | X | X | |
| Fish | X | | |
| Bird | | X | X |
| Duck | X | X | X |
Notice how for each combination of swimming, walking and flying, there is a living creature that can do just that, with the exception of swimming and flying.
Sure there are flying fish, but they glide rather than fly. Did evolution really forget to cover this niche?
All fish fly, just not through the air.
And, uh, The Common Loon is a creature that can swim and fly, but can’t walk. It’s feet are too far back to be able to walk.
A paraplegic seaplane pilot
Genus Chrysopelea, commonly referred to as flying snakes. Most snakes are perfectly fine swimmers, so I bet that Genus can swim as well.
I personally can’t wait for the snakenado trilogy to come out
That’s pretty cool and also quite scary!
Loon
Dragonflies.
Their nymph phase is aquatic and in their adult phase they only fly. Their legs are only for grasping.
Pretty sure I’ve seen dragon flies crawling along plants on land?
They can shift around a little bit, but they don’t really walk as a means of travel.
Good idea! I think fireflies can walk (over short distances), but maybe there are other insects close to water that can’t.
Flying Fish
They don’t really fly though, just glide a short distance after a jump.
Falling, with style!
That’s more than I do.
Same. I can’t even swim.
If they actually generate lift I’d call it flying, but I don’t know if they do
Gliding requires lift, but the lift they generate is mostly generated while they’re still in the water as far as I know.
Note that Markdown does tables:
|Creature|Swims|Walks|Flies| |-|-|-|-| |Dog|X|X|| |Fish|X||| |Bird||X|X| |Duck|X|X|X|Yields:
Creature Swims Walks Flies Dog X X Fish X Bird X X Duck X X X Thanks, but it didn’t render well on my client, so I wanted to play save.
Depends on the markdown dialect, it’s not a standard feature. I didn’t know Lemmy supports it.
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The common loon flies and swims, but isn’t able to walk.
TIL:
Loons are excellent swimmers, using their feet to propel themselves above and under water. However, since their feet are located far back on the body, loons have difficulty walking on land, though they can effectively run short distances to reach water when frightened. Thus, loons avoid coming to land, except for mating and nesting.
Thanks! That’s exactly what I’ve been searching for.
We need to add digging/ tunneling to the grid.
Japanese flying squids?
Cormorants don’t walk well… Their legs are set far back on their body for more efficient swimming.
I think this and loons are the closest to what I’ve been searching for! I even found a video of a loon having to be rescued because it’s unable to walk.
Loons are another one.
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I’ve always been of the opinion since fish can breathe underwater just like birds breathe above water, all fish are technically flying in their own environment.
Does that also mean that birds swim in the air?
Air is just significantly less dense water.
I would say yes.
