Monday, January 25, 2021

Tumblr Goes Mythological Scientist Mode On Dragons


Just in case you didn't know, this enlightening Tumblr thread is here to fill you in on why a flamethrower is by no means a precision weapon. Also, apparently dragons rock eyes on the sides of their heads because they place more value on their field of view than they do on their depth perception. Check out some more gold from Tumblr with this post where Tumblr uncovers the nine different kinds of movie posters. 

1.

Human body - galahadwilder A sudden, terrifying thought When you see an animal with its eyes set to the front, like wolves, or humans, that's usually a predator animal.

2.

Head

3.

Cloud - If you see an animal with its eyes set farther back, though-to the side-that animal is prey. Now look at this dragon.

4.

Vertebrate - Now look at this dragon. See those eyes?

5.

Eye

6.

Rectangle - They're to the SIDE.

7.

Extinction - This raises an interesting-and terrifying- question.

8.

Rectangle - perfectly-generic-blog The eyes-in-the-front thing (usually) only applies to mammals. Crocodiles, arguably the inspiration for dragons, have eyes that look to the sides despite being a predator.

9.

Font - P pyrrhiccomedy hey what up I'm about to be That Asshole This isn't a mammalian thing. When people talk about 'eyes on the front' or 'eyes on the side, they're really talking about binocular vision vs monocular vision. Binocular vision is more advantageous for predators because it's what gives you depth perception; i.e, the distance you need to leap, lunge, or swipe to take out the fast-moving thing in front of you. Any animal that can position its eyes in a way that it has overlapping fi

10.

Font - (The eyes-in-front = predator / eyes-on-sides = %3D prey thing holds true far more regularly for birds than it does for mammals. Consider owls, hawks, and falcons vs parrots, sparrows, and doves.) But it's not like binocular vision is inherently "better" than monocular vision. It's a trade-off: you get better at leap-strike-kill, but your field of vision is commensurately restricted, meaning you see less stuff.

11.

Font - Sometimes, the evolutionary benefit of binocular vision just doesn't outweigh the benefit of seeing the other guy coming. Very few forms of aquatic life have binocular vision unless they have eye stalks, predator or not, because if you live underwater, the threat could be coming from literally any direction, so you want as wide a field of view as you can get. If you see a predator working monocular vision, it's a pretty safe assumption that there is something else out there dangerous enou

12.

Organism - For example, if you are a crocodile, there is a decent chance that a hippo will cruise up your shit and bite you in half. l'd say that makes monocular vision worthwhile. Which brings us back to OP's point. Why would dragon evolution favor field of view over depth perception?

13.

Font - A lot of the stories l've read painted the biggest threats to dragons (until knights with little shiny sticks came along) as other dragons. Dragons fight each other, dragons have wars. And like fish, a dragon would need to worry about another dragon coming in from any angle. That's a major point in favor of monocular vision. Moreover, you don't need depth perception in order to hunt if you can breathe fucking fire. A flamethrower is not a precision weapon. If you can torch everything in f

14.

Font - Really, why would dragons have eyes on the front of their heads? Seems like they've got the right idea to me. rachelladytietjens Rebageling for the profoundity of “A flamethrower is not a precision weapon." 171.556 notes

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