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That is a weird way of saying "Humans are bigger than birds," even then though, I think on average the ostrich will win.
Edit: I missed the flying part, but still.
And you missed the part about conserving mass. A bird that can fly, with the mass of a human, would be much bigger than a human (cause birds have very thin, hollow bones).
You seem to be describing density (d = m/v). Preserving mass doesn't really mean anything in this context without a discussion of volume.
why would you assume density would be conserved? all I said was mass so the density would absolutely be variable.
why would you assume density would be conserved?
I didn't. I pointed out that the person I replied was not describing mass.
By quite a lot too. The kori bustard is the heaviest known flying animal at around 18kg or 40lbs.
CAW bitchhhh
You just cast ritual?
not as large as big bird
Just because mass is conserved doesn't mean size/shape is conserved. If you're always human-sized, you're a pretty shitty shapeshifter. No offense.
thats... the whole point of the post. a bird with a humans mass would be huge. maybe you should have left your shitty assumptions in your ass. no offence.
Are you also preserving the ratios of materials that the body is made of? We'd have very heavy bones for a bird (or a lot of bones at bird density) and probably not enough muscle to lift 2m long wings. Also all the keratin in our hair and nails wouldn't make many feathers. We'd be a mostly plucked bird
When I was a kid I had a book called The Science of the X-Men (which that site lists for $11 but eBay lists for anywhere from $100-1500) that attempted to use real world physics to explain how the powers of the X-Men might work.
Mostly the explanations came down to "I dunno, maybe black holes?" For example, it speculated that Jean Grey might have a microscopic black hole in her brain and had subconsciously learned to use it to open the other end in other brains and somehow vibrate the brain matter in a way to communicate telepathically.
Anyway, I don't recall whether it covered any shapeshifters, but if so, it probably handled it the same way Animorphs did (as others have mentioned in this thread), but with black holes instead of z-space.
imagine a human-sized flying bird, that would be terrifying
those are still estimated to have a mass topping out around 40 pounds, so a bird with the mass of a human would probably be more than twice the size of that one, at least.
I mean, it would just be an ostrich, with the ability to fly.
and the wingspan the size of a car to lift that weight
I mean.....I'm not an ostrich expert, but isn't that already roughly their wingspan? Fuckers can grow to like 9 feet tall, I suspect their wings fully extended would be pretty wide.
Albatross already have the wingspan of a car, an 80kg human would need a lot more.
Preserving a mass while maintaining the ability to fly would require you to significantly increase in size, which comes with all sorts of drawbacks.
Humans can't fly precisely because we're too dense. Birds and other flying creatures have plenty of adaptations meant to reduce mass (or, rather, density) by all means possible.
If we're so dense how did we invent planes!?
Putting something small and dense into something big and not dense helps
Even dense brains know that. Ooga booga fly!
And if my mom had wheels she’d be a bicycle.
The village bicycle?
Biggest by mass, but a bird with the mass of a human cant fly (biomechanically impossible), so there needs to be magic fuckery involved.
Meaning that a shapeshifter that turns in a flying bird with the same mass as a human would likely not be as large as you think. Humans are very dense compared to birds. Assuming we keep that density, we could be smaller than some of the larger eagles or carrion birds.
The largest flying animal to ever live, as far as we know, was the Quetzalcoatlus, which is estimated to have a mass up to over 400 pounds. Thats more mass than 99% of all humans, flatly disproving your claim. Just because theres no living bird with that mass doesn't in any way mean its biologically impossible.
Why would you assume it would have the same density as a human? This is an arbitrary restriction you're adding to the scenario. Conservation of mass doesn't require conservation of volume.
I love the quetzalcoatlus, it's one of my favorite summons in D&D. 80ft fly speed, flyby, 10ft reach, 22 (6d6+2) damage with a flying charge, and only CR 2. 🤌
The largest flying animal to ever live, as far as we know, was the Quetzalcoatlus, which is estimated to have a mass up to over 400 pounds. Thats more mass than 99% of all humans, flatly disproving your claim.
If you assume that we can change density then its possible sure.
Just because theres no living bird with that mass doesn’t in any way mean its biologically impossible.
If you just reshaped a person into a bird shape, its biomechanically impossible for them to fly.
Why would you assume it would have the same density as a human?
Because otherwise you arent turning a person into a bird, you are just making a bird (or other flying mammal) with the same approximate mass as a human.
This is an arbitrary restriction you’re adding to the scenario.
Seems implied to me
Conservation of mass doesn’t require conservation of volume.
So the original post would just be "a flying bird with the same mass as a human would be a huge bird"
Which...sure
dig in those heals, double down on the argument you pulled out of your ass. you're part of what sucks about the internet.
UH huh
So if they turned into an elephant they'd be the cutest widdle elephant ever??
Yup they'd be a little baby elephant, unless they happen to be one of the heaviest humans alive, in which case they'd be a slightly older baby elephant lol.
this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
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- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
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