I have a species of sapient humanoids in my world capable of flight using 24 foot wide wings. The world's being used for a science-fantasy world, so I'd like some realism, but some can be handwaved. Not all of it, though.
However, I don't know if it'd be necessary/enough for my world.
Here's my world's parameters:
- 75% Earth gravity
- 2x Earth's Diameter (Don't worry about the difference in diameter vs. gravity)
- 3 times Earth's atmospheric pressure (Venus has 92 times Earth's gravity and likely isn't much lower in gravity, I think 0.75g and 3x atmospheric pressure is fine).
- 36% atmospheric oxygen.
My species:
- Is mammalian/avian(Both mixed) in nature, with some dinosaurian traits thrown in; They have feathers and hair and give birth to live young, which they breastfeed; Are warm-blooded; But have long tails like a reptile's.
- Is about 7'6" on average as an adult, going down to 6'0" to 9'0".
- Weigh about 180-240 pounds, up to 360 (Taller individuals) and down to 160 pounds (Shorter individuals)(These are using Earth Gravity, it's more like 120 lb to 270 lb).
- Have 24 foot wingspans,
- Their wings are bony, with two of their wing's fingers holding up the wing's end, and the other two are bound with the wing membrane (Different in structure to their body skin) to form an alula-like structure of the two fingers. The whole wing is bound with a similar membrane (Which is much thicker and stronger than their bodily skin) from to sides of the body to the wing finger tips on the trailing edge, with additional membrane running on the top, stopping at the alula. The alula fingers are bound together but other wise free, and are fully moveable like its counterpart in birds, and the wing fingers are similarly bound together (But still attached to the wing).
- Are obligate carnivores, but began agriculture as a way to keep prey in one area year-round, and do eat some plant material (Their overall diet is doglike; They need meat, but some plant matter for supplemental nutrition is helpful).
- Evolved from a species of flying predator that mostly hunts on the ground (Like a secretary bird), so flight would be mostly for travelling, not high-speed stunts/hunting in thick forests (Although they can do this, it takes practice, like gymnastics), with travel speeds being about 48 miles per hour at a normal pace (Their cruising speed, if you will).
Other biological traits include:
- A highly mobile (But not prehensile) lizard-like tail with a large vane at the tip for communication;
- A large tail fan near the top of the tail, used for a fair amount of steering in flight;
- Three-toed digitigrade legs, with hooves on the toes (Like some early horses); 4 Six-fingered hands (Held at the side while flying unless holding something, in which case a streamlined holding method is used);
- And great color vision, hearing, and olfactory senses (On par with hawks, cats, and non scent-bred dogs, respectively).
- Their distant ancestor is a six-finned placoderm counterpart that eventually evolved onto land with six limbs.
- They also have 6 pairs of tendrils used for various uses: 2 pairs of breathing/scent collection tendrils for breathing and scent aid; 1 pair for taste and drink absorption (Think a butterfly's proboscis)
They should be able to fly with an extra two-thirds of their weight, like other flying animals.
Is my species able fly with 24 foot wings, or is it too small/big for my world? If it's too small/big, what's the minimum wingspan?