Flying and gliding animals

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/flying-and-gliding-animals

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the independent origins of powered flight?Occurred at least four times: in insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats
2. What animals can fly and glide?Insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats can fly. Flying squirrels, colugos, sugar gliders, Draco lizards, Chrysopelea snakes, frogs, and fish can glide.
3. How do flying squirrels glide?Flying squirrels stretch a large skin sheet called a patagium between their limbs. This sheet lets them glide from tree to tree.

Convergent Evolution: The independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages.
Arboreal Adaptation: Physical or behavioral traits that enable an animal to live in trees.
Biomechanics: The study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement of living organisms.