Amazing footage has captured how ‘wandering salamanders’ glide like skydivers to help control and slow their fall when they leap from a lofty height.
The amphibians, which are often hard to observe because they live in some of the world’s tallest trees in California, have long limbs and flattened bodies that are perfect for climbing.
But unlike their distant cousins – the gliding leaf frog and flying gecko – they do not have skin flaps or webbing to help them glide.
So researchers set out to discover why they willingly jump from such great heights and what makes them aerodynamic.
Amazing footage has captured how ‘wandering salamanders’ glide like skydivers to help control and slow their fall when they leap from a lofty height
‘It was confusing to see these salamanders jump so readily given the height of the trees they inhabit,’ said Christian Brown, a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida and lead author on the study.
‘Although hundreds of species of lungless salamanders are known to climb, aerial behaviour had not been described.
‘Our investigation of aerial behaviour revealed that highly arboreal species of salamanders, especially the wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans), reliably engage in parachuting and gliding to slow and direct their descent.’
In wind-tunnel experiments, the salamanders adopted a parachuting posture – with their arms, legs and tails extended – consistently, slowing their vertical speed by up to 10 per cent while falling.
They also coupled parachuting with undulations of their tail and torso to effect gliding at non-vertical angles about half of the time.
The amphibians, which are often hard to observe because they live in some of the world’s tallest trees, have long limbs and flattened bodies that are perfect for climbing
In wind-tunnel experiments, the salamanders parachuted consistently, slowing their vertical speed by up to 10 per cent while falling
‘To observe salamanders, which are generally associated with ponds and streams, in the air is a bit unexpected in and of itself,’ Brown said.
‘Most surprising to us was the exquisite level of control that the more arboreal salamanders had in the vertical wind tunnel.’
He added: ‘Wandering salamanders were especially adept and seemed to instinctively deploy skydiving postures upon first contact with the airstream.
‘These salamanders were not only able to slow themselves down, but also used fine-scale control in pitch, roll, and yaw to maintain upright body postures, execute banking turns, and glide horizontally.
‘This level of aerial control was unexpected because these salamanders do not seem to possess conspicuous features for aerial control.’
In the new study, researchers describe the salamanders’ aerial performance in which they maintain stable gliding postures by adjusting their legs and tail
Brown said that what he found most interesting was that the salamanders, and presumably other animals, don’t necessarily need flashy control surfaces such as webbing or skin flaps to parachute and glide.
He added that he hopes the findings will help draw attention to this unique species and its old-growth, canopy world.
‘Scientists have barely scratched the surface in studying the redwood canopy ecosystem and the unique fauna it has shaped through evolutionary time,’ he said.
‘With the climate changing at an unprecedented rate, it is vitally important that we collect more data on animals like wandering salamanders so we may better understand, protect, and preserve this delicate ecosystem.’
Researchers are now using computational fluid dynamics and 3D reconstruction software to determine how the salamanders generate lift.
The study has been published in the journal Current Biology.