Air and Animals

Air is a part of our environment. Almost all living organisms need air to breathe, but only a few can move in the air. Flying is the most important way of movement for some animals like birds, bats, and insects. Some animals are unable to fly, but can glide for shorter distances.

In Ancient Greece, there was a legend about Daedalus and his son Icarus, who built wings for themselves to escape from imprisonment on the island of Crete. Despite his father’s warning, Icarus flew too close to the sun. The heat melted the wax they had used to attach feathers to their wings, and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned.

To fly like birds or insects, humans would need enormous wings, because they are so much heavier than birds. However, humans would not be strong enough to move those wings. The closest that we have come to inventing 'wings' are hang gliders and wing suits that allow us to glide for quite some time. To fly longer distances, people need to use machines like planes or helicopters.

Birds have wings, without which it would be impossible to fly. Birds lift themselves higher by moving their wings, and glide in the air when their wings are still.

Bird bodies and wings are covered in feathers. Wide feathers increase the surface area of wings. Tail feathers allow birds to adjust their course. Birds have huge chest muscles to move their wings. You might have noticed that there is a lot of meat in the chicken breast - this is where the large muscles that move the wings are located.

To fly, one must be very light. That's why the rest of their body is very light - they even have hollow bones to reduce their weight.

Flying is hard work, and needs a lot of energy. That's why they need to eat a lot. Some birds may even eat as many insects as their own body weight in one day!

The size and shape of the wings depends on the type of bird. Eagles and hawks have large, wide wings to glide when they search for food.

Fast birds have long and narrow wings that are easy to move – that way, they can adjust their height quickly. Examples of very fast birds include the common swift and the peregrine falcon. Swifts spend most of their lives flying, and they can even sleep in the air. They come to the ground only to nest.

Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight, using their extremely long fingers and skin stretched between them. Almost 1,000 bat species can be found worldwide. Some bats emit sounds that bounce off objects in their path, sending echoes back to the bats. From these echoes, the bats can determine the size of objects, how far away they are, how fast they are travelling, and even the texture, all in a split second. This ability is called echolocation. Dolphins and whales also use echolocation.

Flying squirrels are also mammals that use air to move around, although they might more appropriately be called “gliding squirrels” because they aren’t capable of the true flight that a bird or a bat can do. They have a special membrane between their front and back legs that allows them to glide through the air between trees. When a flying squirrel wants to travel to another tree without touching the ground, they launch themselves from a high branch and spread out their limbs to expose the gliding membrane. They use slight movements of their legs to steer, and their tail acts as a brake upon reaching their destination. Flying squirrels can cover more than 45 meters in a single glide!