A number of animals have evolved aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. Flying and gliding animals have evolved separately many times, without any single ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times, in the insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats. Gliding has evolved on many more occasions. Usually the development is to aid canopy animals in getting from tree to tree, although there are other possibilities. Gliding, in particular, has evolved among rainforest animals, especially in the rainforests in Asia (most especially Borneo) where the trees are tall and widely spaced. Several species of aquatic animals, and a few amphibious animals have also evolved to acquire this gliding flight ability, typically as a means of evading predators.
Read more about Flying And Gliding Animals: Types of Aerial Locomotion, Ecology of Aerial Locomotion, Biomechanics of Aerial Locomotion, Limits and Extremes
Famous quotes containing the words flying, gliding and/or animals:
“Now I am alone with the dead,
flying off bridges,
hurling myself like a beer can into the wastebasket.
I am flying like a single red rose,
leaving a jet stream
of solitude....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“I stand on a bridge of one span
and see this calm act, this gathering up
of life, of spring water
and the Muse gliding ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Man is head, chest and stomach. Each of these animals operates, more often than not, individually. I eat, I feel, I even, although rarely, think.... This jungle crawls and teems, is hungry, roars, gets angry, devours itself, and its cacophonic concert does not even stop when you are asleep.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)