Catching Air: Taking the Leap with Gliding Animals

This book talks about flying reptiles, mammals, and even some amphibians and fish. It is about the animals in the animal kingdom that can glide but not really fly. These animals have special adaptations that let them glide through the air, not just fall slowly. Most of these animals have stretches of skin called “patagia” that open up when they are gliding. But the Draco lizard is the best glider of them all; this lizard is different than the other animals because it actually expands its ribs into flaps of skin to make wing-like structures so it can glide really well. Not all the animals have patagia, though; the gliding snakes seem to wriggle through the air, and flying fish have fins that work like wings to help them glide. The pictures in this book are really beautiful; there are great color photographs of lots of different and unusual animals from all over the world. You learn where the most gliders live and why they live where they do, and you learn about animals you probably haven’t ever seen before, like the colugos and anomalures. You will learn a lot from this fun and interesting science book!