Storks with babies

[aledhuw]

Could a stork physically carry a baby? I need to do a presentation on wether it could or not.

[ummmm]

What a strange topic to do a presentation on.

I suppose it would depend on the size of the baby but I would say it probably could.

[aledhuw]

It's my biology class... my teacher wants people to do random things. I need like scientific reasons tho! Cheers tho!

[wolf63]

I wouldn't imagine that it would be able to get a good grip of the material that the baby dangles in. They birds fly pretty high up, the baby would probably freeze. There is also the weight issue.

[aledhuw]

Thats a good point actually, they do fly pretty high. I suppose i could research the height at wich storks fly. Thanks a lot!

[Pea Pod]

My answer would be no. There is a part in the bible where a stork tried to carry her children from a fire and couldn`t. This is why a stork is associated with babies. It is a Hebrew word meaning Kind Mother. She stayed with her young and perished in the flames with them. In Victorian times"the Stork brought you" was said to explain where children came from. It was picked because in those days the stork was a bringer of happiness.

[aledhuw]

Thats relly interesting thanks!

[Thunderbird+]

The average weight of a stork is about 6kg.

The average weight of a new born human baby is between 3-4 kg.

So if in theory a stork can carry a least half its own body weight, then yes it would be possible.

[SteveD]

Apart from altitude and temperature, consider aerodynamics and weight distribution.

How does a stork fly (position of beak and neck etc)? How would carrying a baby in this position displace the centre of gravity forwards and so on? You could have fun with this, introducing the effects of varying nappy contents etc.

One for Clanad, I think!

[aledhuw]

good call steveD those are some things to consider! Thanks for the stats aswell Thunderbird+

[CT]

Try to find the mass of the largest fish (or whatever food it also eats) and see how close that is to the figures given above