Flying and gliding animals

A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by active flight, by passive gliding or, in rare occasions, by kiting/ballooning. Such animals typically have appendages that interact with air to generate lift in order to overcome the weight of their own body and any payload they are carrying (e.g. food/prey, nesting materials). Majority of flying and glide animals are terrestrial, while species from one extant taxon, i.e. the flying fish, are aquatic.

The ability to fly or glide has appeared via convergent evolution many times throughout the history of life, and has evolved prominently in at least four terrestrial clades: insects, pterosaurs, birds and bats. Gliding and kiting, which are essentially controlled, prolonged free falls, have evolved on many more occasions, especially among arboreal species. Usually the aerial trait is to aid animals leaping directly across extended distances from one tree canopy to another without having to descend to the ground, which will otherwise expose them to risks from ground predators, although there are other reasons why aerial locomotions have developed. Gliding, in particular, has evolved among forest animals, especially in the rainforests in Asia (most especially Borneo) where the trees are tall (making it costly to descend and travel between trees) and groundcovers are dense (thus favoring ambush predators). Several species of amphibians (e.g. flying frogs) and reptiles (e.g. flying lizards and flying snakes) have also evolved gliding ability, typically as a means of escape behavior to evade predators, while kiting/ballooning (which resembles paragliding or kitesurfing) has developed among several species of silk-spinning invertebrates such as spiders, spider mites and some caterpillars as a means of airborne dispersal.