Bret Weinstein

So the two times I've seen it was when they got into an argument with each other.

Okay, and they started chattering and I was like, huh, what is this?

And okay, lo and behold, it's flying squirrels and they're moving through a patch of forest and it's the most amazing thing, right?

These things, technically they're not flying, they're purely gliding.

I would argue that that's actually not a really good distinction because at some level what they're doing is powering flight by climbing trees.

So they climb a tree, they've got potential energy and then they glide to the next tree.

They'll go from the end of a branch and they will glide much farther than you would think is possible.

It's really like it challenges you.

Am I really seeing what I'm seeing?

It's hard to believe they can do it.

And then they land on the trunk of the tree.

That's why they're so silent.

They land on the trunk so it doesn't make a big noise as they hit some branch and the leaves rustle and all that.

But anyway, if you've seen these creatures do it,

then you can imagine a pretty clear story, right?

Imagine a squirrel that doesn't glide, a regular garden variety squirrel.

Well, that squirrel certainly faces gaps between trees that push it to its limit, and then there's gaps that are just a little beyond its limit.

And you could imagine lots of scenarios in which a predator is chasing a squirrel, and it's got it out onto the end of a branch, and the squirrel has to leap.

And so it's got to be pretty durable in case it can't make it to the next tree.

They are.