Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:25 PM Amazing video shows how salamanders glide like skydivers trends now
Amazing footage has captured how 'wandering salamanders' glide like skydivers to help control and slow their fall when they leap from a lofty height.
The amphibians, which are often hard to observe because they live in some of the world's tallest trees in California, have long limbs and flattened bodies that are perfect for climbing.
But unlike their distant cousins – the gliding leaf frog and flying gecko – they do not have skin flaps or webbing to help them glide.
So researchers set out to discover why they willingly jump from such great heights and what makes them aerodynamic.
Amazing footage has captured how 'wandering salamanders' glide like skydivers to help control and slow their fall when they leap from a lofty height
'It was confusing to see these salamanders jump so readily given the height of the trees they inhabit,' said Christian Brown, a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida and lead author on the study.
'Although hundreds of species of lungless salamanders are known to climb, aerial behaviour had not been described.
'Our investigation of aerial behaviour revealed that highly arboreal species of salamanders, especially the wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans), reliably engage in parachuting and gliding to slow and direct their descent.'
In wind-tunnel experiments, the salamanders adopted a parachuting posture - with their arms, legs and tails extended - consistently, slowing their vertical speed by up to 10 per cent while falling.
They also coupled parachuting with undulations of their tail and torso to effect gliding at non-vertical angles about half of the time.
The amphibians, which are often hard to observe because they live in some of the world's tallest trees, have long limbs and flattened bodies that are perfect for climbing
In wind-tunnel experiments, the salamanders parachuted consistently, slowing their vertical speed by up to 10 per cent while falling
'To observe salamanders, which are generally associated with ponds and streams, in the air is a bit unexpected in and of itself,' Brown said.
'Most surprising to us was the exquisite level of control that the more arboreal salamanders had in the vertical wind tunnel.'
He added: 'Wandering salamanders were especially adept and seemed to instinctively deploy skydiving postures upon first contact with the airstream.
'These salamanders were not only able to slow themselves down, but also used fine-scale control in pitch, roll, and yaw to
