Plenty of other examples of flying animals, apart from birds, have successful body adaptations that make air displacement possible. Other creatures use membranes of skin or very elongated body parts to glide through air. Some aquatic animals leap out of the water to glide briefly. Below are animals that fly that are neither birds nor insects.
What Is The Largest Flying Animal?
Fruit bats (flying foxes) are the largest flying mammals. They are primarily restricted to tropical and subtropical regions. Flying foxes do not practice echolocation but use their sharp sense of smell when searching for food. These bats can reach wing spreads of up to 1.5 meters, and their robust, tough, maneuverable, and leathery wings help them to span long distances foraging for food.
Examples of Flying Animals
While there is nothing special about insects and birds flying, flying reptiles, mammals, and amphibians are very fascinating. Examples include:
Bats
Bats have very well-developed echolocation abilities. They rely on them to move in complete darkness by emitting ultrasonic sounds that reflect from surrounding objects, thus identifying obstacles and prey.
Bats perform very complicated aerobatic stunts to catch insects in mid-air. Their wings are built for fast and agile flight, making them effective predators.
Flying Squirrel
Small nocturnal rodents like flying squirrels glide between trees on a specialized membrane extending from wrist to ankle called a patagium. The membrane acts as a parachute, enabling the animals to glide through distances up to 90 meters.
Flying squirrels are found in North America, Europe, and Asia forests. They can control their glide path and speed by spreading their limbs and changing the shape of their patagium, enabling perfect landings.
Colugos
Colugos, or flying lemurs, are gliding arboreal mammals native to Southeast Asia. They are not true lemurs but are closely linked to the primate order. Their large gliding membrane extends from their neck to the tips of their fingers, toes, and tails.
Sifakas
These Madagascar lemurs are famous for their impressive leaps from tree to tree, searching for food. Though they can’t truly glide, their powerful hind legs allow them to jump over 10 meters. Their long, powerful legs and dexterous hands give them the ability to navigate the forest canopy.
Phalanger
Phalangers, or cuscuses, are a group of tree-dwelling marsupials inhabiting Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding islands. Although they are not true gliders like flying squirrels or sugar gliders, they are good climbers who can make controlled leaps from branch to branch. Their prehensile tail and powerful limbs help them in their arboreal mode of life.
Greater Glider
Originally from Australia, greater gliders have big furry membranes for gliding, starting from their elbows down to the ankles. They can cover up to 100 meters between glides from tree to tree. This feature enables them to maneuver quickly through the canopy in forests, searching for leaves, their major food source, while avoiding potential predators.
Draco Lizards
Draco lizards, or flying dragons, are small lizards that inhabit Southeast Asian forests. They have elongated ribs with flaps of skin attached to them, serving as wings that enable gliding from one tree to another. This helps them to escape enemies and search for food.
Flying Geckos
Webbed feet and flaps of skin along their limbs and bodies enable flying geckos, such as Kuhl’s flying gecko, to glide. When threatened or moving from one tree to another, they spread their limbs to extend these skin flaps. This increases their surface area, allowing them to cover several meters.
Paradise Tree Snake
These Southeast Asian snakes “fly” by making their bodies flat and undulating through the air. They arc into an S-shape as they leap from trees. Their extended ribs form a concave surface that functions much like a parachute. With this, the paradise tree snakes can glide up to 100 meters.
Gliding Snake
Gliding snakes, also known as Chrysopelea, are indigenous to Southeast Asia. They have the potential to flatten their bodies to increase their surface area. This allows them to glide from tree to tree.
Flying Cod
Flying cods use large, wing-like pectoral fins to jump out of the water and glide through the air for long distances. Flying fish achieve top speed in the water by breaking the surface at high velocity and spreading their fins to catch air. That way, they can glide up to 200 meters in one jump at speeds over 60 km/hr. (36 miles per hour).
Devil Ray
Devil rays are famous for their spectacular acrobatic leaps out of the water. They lift from the water and glide through the air for meters before returning to the ocean. The rays get momentum underwater by using their powerful pectoral fins, and just as they hit the surface, they break them to send themselves flying in the air.
Freshwater Butterflyfish
The freshwater butterflyfish commonly found in West Africa is a trait-bearing fish that can glide above the water’s surface. When threatened, the fish uses its large pectoral fins to propel itself out of the water and glide for short distances.
Flying Frog
The Wallace flying frog is native to Malaysia and Borneo. It has very large webbed feet with flaps of skin between its toes and limbs, enabling it to glide through trees. When it jumps, it opens its broad limbs, catching air on the webbing, which helps it control its descent.
Gliding Ant
Gliding ants, also called turtle ants, can glide back to their home tree trunk if they fall. They accomplish this by flattening their body and using their legs to steer. This allows them to smoothly escape from ground-based threats.
Japanese Flying Squid
The Japanese flying squid, known as the Pacific flying squid, is an amazing species. When threatened, the squid propels itself out of the water as far as 30 meters, a version of jet propulsion. It forcefully expels water through its siphon to launch itself many meters into the air.
Gliding Spiders
The arachnids, or flattie spiders, glide when falling from trees. This remarkable adaptation is called parachuting or gliding. It involves the spiders flattening their bodies and steering through the air with their legs to land on the trunk.
