Top 6 Most Unusual Flying and Gliding Animal Creatures

A number of animals have evolved aerial locomotion, either by flight or by gliding. Flight has evolved at least four times, in the insects, birds, pterosaurs and bats, while gliding has evolved mostly among rainforest animals, especially in Asia’s rainforests where the trees are tall and widely spaced. Here is our list of top 10 most unusual flying and gliding animal creatures : Link 

1. Gliding Ants  

Gliding ants are arboreal ants that have abilities of controling the direction of their descent and returning to their home tree trunk when they fall from branches, using visual cues to locate the trunk. They are first discovered by the insect ecologist Stephen P. Yanoviak. Some researches have shown that the gliding ants have an 85% chance of landing successfully on the same tree, as compared to 5% if they were simply parachuting like normal ants.

2. Flying Phalangers  

For those who don’t know, the phalangers are apparently an Australian subfamily of possum. Flying phalangers are small (about 400 mm, counting the tail) and have folds of loose skin which help them to glide from tree to tree by jumping and holding out their limbs spread-eagle. They also have flat tails which that they use as rudders while gliding. They are able to glide through the air for up to 140 meters. The most famous flying phalanger is the sugar glider.

3. Flying Lemurs  

Although called the flying lemurs, these animals can not fly and are not true lemurs; they glide and are comparable to the very large squirrels or the medium-sized possums. Flying lemurs are able to glide long distances between trees using their gliding membrane of skin that extends between their limbs and is as large as is geometrically possible. Unlike other gliding mammals, flying lemurs even have the spaces between the fingers and toes webbed to increase the total surface area (like in the wings of bats). They are know to be bad climbers but they are extremely maneuverable and able to glide over 70 meters from tree to tree with minimal loss of height. There are only two species of flying lemurs in the world – the Philippine flying lemur and the Sunda flying lemur.

4. Flying Snakes  

The flying snake is a species of snake that can be found in Southeast Asia, India, southernmost China and Sri Lanka. Although the flying snakes are mildly venomous, they are considered harmless because their poison is not dangerous to humans. Flying snakes can’t really fly since they can’t actually gain altitude. They are gliders that use the speed of the fall and contortions of their bodies to catch the air and generate lift. Before the take-off, a flying snake will dangle on the end of a branch in a J shape. It propels itself from the branch with the lower half of its body, forms her body quickly into an S shape, and flattens to about twice its normal width, giving its body a concave C shape, which can trap air. The snake can make turns by undulating back and forth.

5. Flying Lizards  

There are around 30 species of lizard of the genus Draco (also known as Flying Dragons) found in Sri Lanka, India, and Southeast Asia. These lizards can glide for over 60 m and over this distance they lose 10 m in height, which is quite some distance, since one of these lizards is only around 20 cm long. The flying lizards have ability to extend the ribs and their connecting membrane in order to create a wing. They also have flattened and wing-like hindlimbs, and a small set of flaps on their neck that serve them as a horizontal stabilizer. These lizards live in trees but nest on the forest floor and only time a flying lizard ventures to the ground is when a female is ready to lay her eggs.

6. Flying squirrels  

The flying squirrel glides from trees using its two furry membranes that are loosely stretched between its wrists and ankles, and act as a parachute to support the squirrel while jumping. The squirrel also has a flat, furry tail which it uses as an air brake before landing on a tree trunk. The squirrel uses both its membrane and tail to steer left and right, and even to make turns of 180 degrees. The flying squirrels are one of the best gliding animals since they can glide up to 90 meters from trees.

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Top 6 Zoo Escapes

1. Goldie the Eagle, London

A male golden eagle called Goldie caused a nationwide sensation when he escaped from the London Zoo in 1965, while his cage was being cleaned. Despite attempts by firefighters, police and a BBC reporter to catch him, Goldie spent 12 days out of the zoo enthralling the British public. About 5,000 people turned out to see Goldie in action, causing severe traffic jams around Regent’s Park, where Goldie spent most of the time. The free bird even killed a duck in the garden of the American ambassador to Britain and attacked two terriers in the park. The zoo received thousands of calls and letters offering advice for the bird’s capture. There also were two teams of keepers that were tracking his progress using two way radio sets loaned from the Civil Defence. After nearly two weeks, Goldie was finally caught after the deputy head zookeeper tempted him to earth with a dead rabbit. In December 1965, Goldie escaped again, but this time for only four days.

2. Bokito the Gorilla, Rotterdam, the Netherlands 

Bokito, a male Western Gorilla, became the subject of considerable media coverage after he escaped from a Rotterdam zoo in 2007 causing several incidents. The gorilla jumped over the ditch which separated his enclosure form the public and attacked a female visitor, dragging her for tens of meters, biting her and even inflicting bone fractures. As a result of the panic, three more people were injured. Some people tried to barricade themselves in a nearby restaurant, but the violent animal smashed part of a door and gained entry. Finally, Bokito was shot with a sedative dart and recaptured. Following the incident, “Bokito” became a term for a violent person in Dutch language. Also, the word “Bokitoproof” meaning “durable enough to resist the actions of a non-specific extreme situation”, was voted the Dutch language word of the year (“Woord van het jaar”) in 2007.

3. Slippery the Sea Lion, Onatario 

Slippery has became world’s most famous sea lion after he escaped from the Storybook Gardens Zoo in London, Ontario, on the morning of June 17, 1958. The sea lion attempted to reach his former home in the Pacific. He swam along the Thames River to Lake St. Clair, and down the Detroit River to Lake Erie, where he was finally caught three weeks later in Sandusky, Ohio. On the day Slippery was returned to London, 50, 000 cheering citizens greeted him on his way to Storybook  Gardens. Slippery lived another ten years at the zoo as the resident celebrity. After he died in 1967, a statue was erected near his pool. Over the years, there has been a children’s book written about him and a documentary done on him.

4. Ken Allen the Orangutan, San Diego 

Ken Allen, a Bornean orangutan born at the San Diego Zoo, became famous after a successful series of escapes in the 1980′s. The orangutan, nicknamed “the hairy Houdini,” had a fan club and was the subject of T-shirts and bumper stickers. A song titled “The Ballad of Ken Allen” was written about him. During his escapes, Ken Allen never acted violently. He would peacefully stroll around looking at other animals. In an attempt to discover how Ken escaped, the zoo had workers go undercover as tourists, but the clever animal wasn’t fooled. Moreover, following Ken’s lead, other orangutans began escaping from the enclosure. Zoo officials even hired rock climbers whose mission was to find every toe, finger and foothold within the enclosure and spent about $40,000 to eliminate them. “Ken Allen appeals to everyone’s sense of breaking out. The irony of it is that he doesn’t really want to leave. He breaks out, but he doesn’t go anywhere,” psychiatrist and ballad writer Dennis Gersten once said about Ken.

5. Mia the Egyptian Cobra, New York  

When the Bronx Zoo  shuttered the exhibit “World of Reptiles” with postings that read “staff observed an adolescent Egyptian cobra missing,” fear spread across New York for the reason the reptile would turn up where it did not belong. Finding the snake was proving more difficult than it has been thought, since it is only about 50 cm long and pencil thin. The snake became a local celebrity, with everyone trying to guess where it was. One devotee even created a faux Twitter account on behalf of the snake, which garnered over 200,000 followers. However, less than a week after the escape, zoo officials found the cobra curled up in the corner of the Reptile House. The cobra was then named Mia, inspired by the phrase “Missing In Action.”

6. Rhesus Monkeys, Long Island, New York  

In August 1935, a group of about 170 rhesus monkeys escaped from Frank Buck’s Jungle Park near Amityville in Long Island, New York, after a workman accidentally left a plank across a moat that surrounded the exhibit. The free monkeys immediately took their chance to have a great time out of the park. Cavorting around the Long Island Rail Road’s tracks, fifty of the rhesuses even stopped the progress of a locomotive for 5 minutes. At the time the New York Times reported that police were expecting calls from people waking up with monkeys in their homes. Money and season pass to the park were offered to anyone who brought a monkey back.

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6 Most Amazing Animal Weapons

Many animals have their own weapons that they use to catch a prey or protect themselves of being a prey. Here is the list of 6 most amazing Animal Weapons:

1. Electric eel

Despite their name and serpentine appearance, electric eels are not true eels. They are more closely related to carp and catfish. They got the name from the enormous electrical charge they can generate to catch prey and dissuade predators. Their organs contain about 6,000 specialized cells called “electrocytes” that can effectively turn them into batteries. When threatened or attacking a big prey, the cells will discharge simultaneously, producing voltages of 600 volts (this is about five times the shock you would get from sticking the finger into a wall socket). When attacking a smaller fish, the eel delivers small shocks to its prey rendering the victim paralyzed.

2. Hagfish

The hagfish is a primitive bottom-dweller with no teeth, jaws, stomach or even true eyes, but it has well developed senses of smell and touch and an incredible defense mechanism. When threatened, this creature releases a sticky, ropy and slippery slime that acts as a protective coating. When the danger is gone, the hagfish cleans up by tying itself in a knot and pulling its body through – scraping it clean. This animals only grow to be about 40 centimeters long but can release more than a liter of slime in about one second. As soon as the hagfish is bitten by a predatory fish, the slime oozes out of it and the predator will soon have gills full of goo and choke to death.

3. Bombardier beetle

Unlike many other insects, beetles cannot as a rule take instantly to the air when under attack from a predator, so they require other tools to protect themselves against enemies. The bombardier beetle is armed with an impressive defense system. These incredible creatures can make their own hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide (two very dangerous chemicals), store them in their abdomens and, when in danger, mix the two chemicals to create an acid that heats up to 100 °C (212 °F) and then spray out right into the face of the would be aggressor, making a sound of a gunshot.

4. Horned Lizard

The horned lizard has one of the most bizarre weapons that it uses to protect itself aginst predators. But this lizard is equipped with so many defense tactics and it will use its secret weapon after all of its other tactics fail. When in danger, the lizard will first try to confuse the enemy’s visual acuity by running in short bursts and stopping abruptly. If this doesn’t work, the reptile will then puff up its body to cause it to look bigger and more difficult for the predator to swallow. If this tactic fails too, the horned lizard will use its last tactic – squirting blood out of its eyes. The lizard is able to do this by increasing the blood pressure in its head. When the pressure increases, the blood vessels in the corner of its eyes rupture and blood shoots out, sometimes for a distance of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet). The blood is not poisonous but it seems to confuse predators and allows the lizard to get away.

5. Archer Fish

In the quiet waters of the Orient, there is a strange fish known as the archer fish, famed for its ability to create an effective water pistol and shoot down insects and other small land based creatures flying or walking on the plants above the water. The archer fish usually spends its time just below the surface of the water, and when it notices a victim that is within range, it adjusts eyes like a scope, so the prey lines up horizontally. The fish will then barely break the water’s surface with its lips and squirt the strong jets of water at the insect until it fells down in the water. Despite the fact the archer fish average only 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length, they can spit out very strong jets of water that can reach up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) away. The fact that the fish almost always hit the target on the first shot is truly remarkable.

6. Skunk

Skunks have earned the title of the smelliest animals in the world, but according to the Humane Society of the United States these mammals don’t naturally smell bad and they use their scent glands only as a defensive weapon when threatened. To employ a scent bomb, a skunk will turn around and blast its enemies with a foul mist which can travel as far as 3 meters (10 feet). Skunk’s spray doesn’t cause real damage to its victims, but it is very effective as a defensive technique, since it can be so strong to even ward off bears. The spray can also cause irritation and temporary blindness and can be powerful enough to be detected by a human nose over a mile downwind. Skunks only have enough spray for five or six uses after what they require about ten days to produce another supply of the chemical.

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