LocomotionFlying and Gliding

Describe the advantages of flying and gliding

Give a number of examples of flyers and gliders

Explain the different adaptations required for flight

Discuss the various flight control methods including stability, maneuverability, braking and turning employed by flying vertebrates

An animals that is capable of sustaining itself in the air is said to be able to fly.

An animal that is able to fly is said to be volant

Some animals that can retard a fall (sometimes in quite sophisticated ways!) are said to parachute (vertical drop – 45°) glide (45° - 90°)

Many theories, but most support one of

Small bipedal arboreal archosaurs that hopped from branch to branch using arms to steady themselves. As feathers (scales) enlarged, hops got bigger.

Small bipedal cursorial dinosaur gaining advantage from outstretched forelimbs when hunting and leaping for flying insects

First known bat in the fossil record is 50 million years old, but is already modern in appearance and flying ability. No intermediate forms have yet been found

Presumed that they evolved from small, agile mammals that scrambled about the trees hunting insects

Flying reptiles survived from 180 – 65 million years ago.

Again the earliest pterosaurs were already competent flyers so nothing is certain about the origin of their flying abilities

Flyers gain access to food that is in the air (flying insects) can only be reached from the air (terminal flowers) that can be easily located from the air

(rodents/fish)

Great mobility and maneuverability enable flyers to search rapidly and efficiently for food and shelter

Escape from nonvolant predators

By migrating, flyers can travel, according to the season, to regions where climate, food supply and nesting sites are favourable

Dispersal is possible over distances and geographical barriers that would otherwise be insurmountable

All parachuters are arboreal They launch themselves with a jump, hold

limbs to the side and hold their flattened surface against the airstream

One species of the family Hylidae has no specific adaptations but can achieve an angle of descent of nearly 60°

Several other frogs are more expert approaching 45° angles using fully webbed feet and fringes on their limbs

A genus of tree snake is capable of controlled parachuting Chrysopelea sp

Some other lizards can manage nearly 45° with broadly webbed toes and body and limb fringes

Several fish, at least three genera of lizards and representatives of three orders of mammals are gliders.

All require adequate air speed in order to function as gliders

Colugo has largest flight membrane of all

Pterosaurs Ranged from starling sized to the largest ever

volant animal with an 11-12m wingspan More than 25 genera known

Bats 175 living genera Most species mammal genus next to rodentia Smallest = 4g Largest = 900g (1.7m

wingspan)

Birds Range from 2g bee hummingbird to the now

extinct teratorn vultures reaching 80kg and a 7m wingspan

Flight feathers supported by long arms and a single fused, robust digit. The feathers on the ‘hand’ are primary feathers and the ‘arm’ has the secondary feathers. A feathered membrane called the patagium spans the angle in front of the elbow

Songbirds fly between 16-40 kph

Ducks cruise at 50-60 kph

Fastest clocked is 58ms-1 or 210 kph (diving gyrfalcon)

In terms of body lengths per second and song bird travels 5 times faster than a cheetah and 20 times a human

Mastiff bat remains on the wing for 6 hour periods

Golden plover flies 3800km none stop from Labrador to South America

Wandering albatross have been tracked flying 15,000km on a single foraging trip

If blackpoll warblers fat stores were equated to petrol, the bird would get 720,000 mpg

Certain bats regularly fly at 3000m Most birds fly below 1500m but migrants

occasionally fly as high as 6400m Birds have been seen in the Himalayas as

high as 9000m

Even at rest, mammals become unconscious at lower altitudes

All flyers must

Derive sufficient upwards force to counter the pull of gravity

Reduce drag Particularly for long or fast flight

Propel themselves at various speeds Retain stability, maneuver, brake and land in

an ever changing environment

The previous primary requirements establish some very rigid secondary adaptations that focus on Strength with light weight

Firmness of the trunk

Efficient production and utilisation of power

Four main types of wing

Elliptical wing Shrub and forest birds and bats Specialised for high maneuverability and precise

control in a confined space

Examples include fruit bat, robin, thrush, pigeon,

High speed wing Characteristic of mastiff bats and swifts,

swallows, falcons, hummingbirds and ducks

Relatively small and tapers to a slender tip

Constant flapping except for short glides

Rapid flaps with a small amplitude

Long soaring wings Mostly found on birds that fly over water, where

long wings are not a hinderance

Characteristics of albatrosses, gannet, terns and gulls

Very long and slender gives high lift for low drag

Adaptation for very efficient flight

Take off and landing occurs at speed

Broad soaring wing

Vultures, eagles and buteo hawks

Specialised for soaring and low speeds, high lift and slow ‘sinking’ speed

Adaptations for lightness and reduction of drag

Muscular and physiological adaptations for flight

Describe the advantages of flying and gliding

Give a number of examples of flyers and gliders

Explain the different adaptations required for flight

Discuss the various flight control methods including stability, maneuverability, braking and turning employed by flying vertebrates