rekordy: Flying and gliding animals

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by active flight, passive gliding or, in rare occasions, ballooning, also known as kiting. Such animals typically have appendages that interact with air to generate lift in order to overcome the weight of their own body and any payload they are carrying (e.g. food, prey or nesting materials). The majority of flying and glide animals are terrestrial, although species from one extant taxon, the flying fish, are aquatic. The ability to fly or glide has appeared via convergent evolution many times throughout the history of life. Wing-powered flight has evolved prominently in at least four terrestrial clades: pterygote insects, pterosa…

Evidence: 56 • authority: 92

Aerial and ground locomotion of winged drones powered by a single actuator.. Multimodal drones combining aerial and terrestrial mobility offer adaptability and extended operational range across diverse environments. However, most existing multimodal drones rely on multiple actuators that add mass and complexity while offering limited terrestrial locomotion capabilities. Here, we introduce a multimodal winged drone driven by only a single actuator, capable of ground locomotion, flight, and ground-to-air transition by either rolling or jumping. The actuator is based on a novel transmission system that enables control of its rotational direction to switch between different locomotion modes. In…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

In ethology, animal locomotion is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soaring and gliding. Many animal species depend on their environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g., sailing (some jellyfish), kiting (spiders), rolling (some beetles and spiders) or riding other animals (phoresis). Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival and, as a result, natural selection has…

Evidence: 49 • authority: 72

Various marine animals are capable of aerial locomotion, i.e., jumping out of the water and moving through air. Some possible reasons for this behavior are hunting, escaping from predators, and saving energy for swimming or breathing. Some of the jumping behaviors initiate gliding and taxiing in air, while some of them end up falling back to water.

Evidence: 43 • authority: 92

Comparative gliding performance of Anolis lizards among three Caribbean ecomorphs.. Anole lizards (genus Anolis) have repeatedly and independently occupied arboreal niches, and in parallel have evolved associated morphologies and locomotor behaviors. In arboreal vertebrates more generally, parachuting and gliding have frequently evolved in response to selective pressure for targeting and controlled landings during either falls or intentional jumps. Here we describe morphological features and aerial performance among five anole species representing the trunk-ground, trunk-crown, and crown giant ecomorphs. Aerial behavior within a vertical wind tunnel was used to evaluate gliding performance,…

Evidence: 37 • authority: 72

This is a list of the fastest animals in the world, by types of animal. The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird, and the fastest member of the animal kingdom, with a diving speed of over 300 km/h (190 mph). The fastest land animal is the cheetah, capable of running at speeds of up to 93–104 km/h (58–65 mph). Among the fastest animals in the sea is the black marlin, with uncertain and conflicting reports of recorded speeds. When drawing comparisons between different classes of animals, an alternative unit is sometimes used for organisms: body length per second. On this basis the 'fastest' organism on earth, relative to its body length, is the Southern Californian mite, Paratarsotomus macrop…

Evidence: 37 • authority: 92

Leaping out of the water: Aerial-aquatic locomotion with flapping wings.. Wing-propelled diving birds flap their wings to move through air and water, yet the wing morphology and kinematics that enable this behavior remain poorly understood because of the difficulty of collecting in situ data. The impact of flapping frequency, wing size, and stiffness on locomotion in-and transition between-the two media are still unknown. We compared data from diving birds against experiments using a flapping-wing robot capable of flying, swimming, plunge diving, and exiting the water. We show that frequency adaptation, flexible wings, and powerful actuation enable seamless transitions without folding wings…