I think you're mistaking rotating for flapping. Rotation is one of those fundamental things differentiating our technological civilization from Nature.
Those rotating things still produce their thrust by pushing a wing-shaped structure through air, producing a high-pressure zone on one side, and a low-pressure zone on another. That is what I was getting at. It is the same principle.
No, it is different. A prop or fan blade is inmovably attached to the shaft and pushed through the air the same way like the plane's wing, and the blade isn't flapped like the bird's wing.
Many plants and trees spread rotating ”helicopter seeds”. Many vines roto-grow themselves around vertical supports. Day flowers rotate to follow the sun.
Apples and oranges fall on the ground and can roll far and wide. Walnuts too.
Partial rotation is still rotation, of course: see animal joints in walk, trot and gallop.
And then there’s the belly-up pig drunk on brewery grain rolling down the hill. That mash packs a wallop!
Yes! Which is why the idea that “ Rotation is one of those fundamental things differentiating our technological civilization from Nature” is not all that useful a statement.