Science Reference

Flying squirrel

The flying squirrels are a tribe of squirrel.

There are 43 species in this tribe, the largest of which is the woolly flying squirrel.

The term "flying" is somewhat of a misnomer, since flying squirrels are actually gliders incapable of true flight.

Gliding is achieved by this animal by launching off the tops of trees and extending flaps of skin stretched from arms to legs: once they have launched themselves into the air they are highly manuverable while in flight.

Steering is accomplished by adjusting tautness of the patagium, largely controlled by a small cartilaginous wrist bone.

The tail acts as a stabilizer in flight, much like the tail of a kite, and as an adjunct aerofoil when "braking" prior to landing on a tree trunk..

For more information about the topic Flying squirrel, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Flying squirrel at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.

Search ScienceDaily

Number of stories in archives: 44,032

Find with keyword(s):
 
Enter a keyword or phrase to search ScienceDaily's archives for related news topics,
the latest news stories, reference articles, science videos, images, and books.
 

Science Video News


Reducing Airplane Noise

A new landing procedure keeps airplanes higher until they are much closer to the airport. The new procedure, called continuous descent approach,. ...  > full story

Breaking News

... from NewsDaily.com

In Other News ...

Copyright Reuters 2008. See Restrictions.

Free Subscriptions

... from ScienceDaily

Get the latest science news with our free email newsletters, updated daily and weekly. Or view hourly updated newsfeeds in your RSS reader:

Feedback

... we want to hear from you!

Tell us what you think of the new ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Post this page to your favorite social bookmarking site:
close
Include this item in your blog or web site:
close
Email this page's link to a friend or colleague:
close