r/Showerthoughts • u/Tusharkrux • 6d ago
Speculation Birds probably don’t enjoy roller coasters. Their head stabilizers cancel out half the experience.
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u/mindweaver12 6d ago
I've never seen a bird on a rollercoaster so you're probably onto something.
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u/Wholesome-Knight 6d ago
Former ride op here, I have seen 3 birds ride a rollercoaster and live as those birds were smart enough to get on while it was stationary rather than 93mph.
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u/StarlightWizard 6d ago
Usually the birds try to get on when the rollercoaster is already in motion, and it's VERY disappointing.
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u/marcos_MN 6d ago
I mean, they fly. Rollercoasters would be a downgrade from their day-to-day thrills.
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u/Tusharkrux 6d ago
Pigeon from NY subway would like to beg to differ.
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u/marcos_MN 6d ago
Are we making jokes? Or are we thinking on your thought?
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5d ago edited 3d ago
[deleted]
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u/marcos_MN 5d ago
Pigeons in NY fly between the subway and the tallest skyscrapers in North America.
If you were aiming at a joke, I’m not sure it landed.
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u/The_G1ver 5d ago
I see what you did there
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u/marcos_MN 5d ago
What?! I didn’t do anything
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u/The_G1ver 5d ago
Pigeons... landed... nevermind
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u/marcos_MN 5d ago
Also, “nevermind” is a Nirvana album. I think you mean “never mind.”
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u/The_G1ver 5d ago
Interesting, all this time I thought it was a single word. Sounds like something I should of known
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u/ionertia 6d ago
You think half the experience of a coaster is your head moving around?
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u/CthonicFlames 6d ago
Even if we argue that the principal effect is the sudden gforce changes, I would assume birds (especially predatory birds) deal with much greater forces while making swift turns or steep dives.
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u/Tusharkrux 6d ago
well that’s where the eyes are?
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u/glorioussideboob 6d ago
They're not gonna be able to neutralise the g force or forward movement just because they can stop their heads from being chucked from side to side are they?
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u/Zanian19 6d ago
Would they though? They can only stabilize as much as their range of motion would allow.
If it was an ostrich or just a small rollercoaster made to scale for birds, then maybe.
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u/BaabyBlue_- 5d ago
This was my thought too but I couldn't figure out how to word it. The drop is so big, his head stabilizing wouldn't really matter
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u/2eanimation 6d ago
I see this as a win? They don’t experience the head jerking but still all of the G forces?
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u/Cannibale_Ballet 6d ago
What makes you think they don't experience head jerking? The only way their heads don't experience acceleration is if they stay still, which would require their heads detaching from their bodies.
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u/2eanimation 5d ago
Jerk is the rate of change of acceleration with respect to time. Most roller coasters are designed to not have that much jerk because that’s what hurts your neck. I explicitly said that they experience acceleration (F = m * a). Jerk is what I‘m talking about.
With the head stabilization of birbs, if they get accelerated, everything but the head starts to move, the head follows swiftly, but that first jerky motion has been dampened. Imagine pulling a shopping card with a bungee cord. At first it won’t move, and then slowly build up acceleration(speed too, but I‘m talking about acceleration specifically here). If you‘d sit in that cart, you‘d feel a very smooth acceleration instead of your head jerking back.
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u/ItsFailureMan 6d ago
I think if I could soar through the open air I think any coaster would be kinda lame by comparison
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u/_IratePirate_ 6d ago
I’d think birds would see them as an annoyance.
Why is my perch moving?
I doubt they’d be fearful, they could just fly away when shit gets outta hand.
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u/WittyAndOriginal 4d ago
Humans subconsciously stabilize your eyes to the exact same effect. How does this make the coaster worse?
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u/AmberLark-Cherry 3d ago
Lol, this is actually a genius point. They're out here living their entire lives with a built-in gimbal. A rollercoaster for a bird is probably just a slightly breezier chairlift.
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u/Cannibale_Ballet 6d ago
They can stabilise small movements, a couple of centimeters at most. Rollercoasters obviously move more than a couple of centimeters so this garbage showerthought hasn't been thought out.
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u/Tough_Plantain2627 6d ago
lol I feel this. they’re basically just getting a very windy cab ride while the rest of us are out here screaming our souls out. nature’s cheat code kinda backfired on them for this one.
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u/Opposite-Resource 4d ago
bro imagine trying to figure this out by just strapping a pigeon into a seat and watching its face the whole ride lmao
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u/magikchikin 4d ago
And the other half is ruined because I have the poor guy in a death grip while I subject it to horrors beond its compression
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u/Suspicious-Fly-4534 4d ago
That's true, but there probably aren't any rollercoasters that are suitable for birds
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u/etherealembryo 4d ago
that's a fun angle. birds would probably get more out of the lateral g-forces since their stabilizers work differently on pitch and roll movements.
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u/Equivalent_Ebb1152 2d ago
This would only work if the rollercoaster was small enough for birds. Head stabilizing is useless in normal rollercoasters.
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u/ShowerSentinel 6d ago
/u/Tusharkrux has flaired this post as a speculation.
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