The heavyweight champion?

PhysicoRaj

Which animal's (bird or insect) wings produce the highest amount of lift, despite having short wingspan or a fat body (proportional to it's wings' size)??

jedishrfu

maybe the hummingbird.

PhysicoRaj

May be. But have a look at this. (you may have seen this before). But what kind of an insect is this?(refer this link)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPtGFyR6Hgo

Borek

Your insect is closely related to this squirrel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaWA1vKmSNQ

Or, in other words - video you posted has nothing to do with the reality.

PhysicoRaj

So there can't be any insect with that much lift.....right?

Borek

Yes.

jedishrfu

I have the answer: Dumbo!

turbo

Having spent some down-time between jobs around the Gulf coast, I was quite impressed with the flying capabilities of the brown pelican. They are pretty massive-looking birds, and as they feed they are scooping up lots of salt water to get to the schools of small fish that they feed on. Impressive, strong fliers.

I expect though that the outliers will be in the realm of insects, though. Each summer, I anticipate the return of the assassin bugs, which can kill and lug off bumblebees that appear to be much more massive than they are.