12 Fascinating Creatures That Can Fly Without Wings

Flying without wings? Sounds impossible! Intriguingly, there are extraordinary creatures around the world that refuse to play by air flight rules. These wingless wonders have all figured out how to fly, or at least glide, with a few seriously remarkable adaptations.

Why do they fly? In the animal world, flight has little to do with terror and horror and more with the daily challenges of escaping predators, foraging for food, or crossing trees with flair! In this article, we bring you on a free flight tour through the skies of nature’s most random aerial acrobatics.

Flying Squirrel

Flying squirrels have a special “wingsuit”—a thin membrane called the patagium—stretching from wrists to ankles. This enables them to glide effortlessly through the air and cover distances such as 300 feet. National Park Service notes that although these squirrels don’t fly, they glide between trees to look for something to eat or escape danger.

Their version of a zip line across the ground helps them move from branch to branch without touching the ground. Agile flying squirrels can change course in mid-flight and adjust their path precisely to get past (or around) obstacles or predators.

Flying Fish

Huge pectoral fins enable the flying fish to ‘fly’ away by means of leaping from water. When the fish makes its dramatic escape from dolphins or larger fish, the fins spread wide, and the fish glides for short distances above the water’s surface.

The gliding distance of some species of flying fish can be 650 feet. In addition to using their flying abilities to evade danger, they will use them to travel between patches of water to search for food or avoid a predator.

Flying Lemur (Colugo)

The ultimate glider of the mammal world is the flying lemur or colugo. So, its entire body is built for flight; it has a skin membrane connecting its limbs, neck, and tail. This is one of the few adaptations that let the colugu glide up to 100m (328ft) through the thick maritime canopies of tropical Southeast Asian forests, writes Phil Myers for Animal Diversity Web.

They search for food, find refuge, and move from one tree to another using their ability to glide. Though gifted with impressive gliding abilities, colugos are surprisingly silent flyers and have become an elusive, tricky animal to spot in the wild.

Gliding Tree Frogs

Wallace’s flying frog, with webbed feet that help it spread like a parachute when it leaps, is one of the many frog species that have adapted to these feet. In doing this, they can glide from tree to tree in search of food or shelter. This can help shield them from predators that hang about below.

All these gliding frogs can glide through the air up to 50 feet, the length of a basketball court! The next time a frog sits up on a leaf, think twice and just picture it jumping and flying through the forest like a skydiver.

Sugar Glider

Flying squirrels and sugar gliders glide because they have a unique skin membrane between their forelimbs and hindlimbs. They use this ability to travel between trees to seek food or to flee from predators. These native to Australia and Southeast Asia are small nocturnal creatures that feed on nectar, sap, and small insects.

An article by the San Diego Zoo mentions that Sugar gliders earn their name by their fondness of sweets (especially sap and nectar) and are often seen gliding from tree to tree at night, aided by their big, dark eyes.

Bald Uakari

They have a membrane of skin around their bodies that lets them glide short distances between trees. “The bald uakari (pronounced ‘wakari’) is a small, red-faced primate native to the Amazon rainforest in South America,” says the New England Primate Conservancy. Despite not being the best gliders, soaring through the air is pretty handy for evading predators and getting around quickly.

Members of this species gain fame for their red faces, which they think have something to do with health and vitality. Bald uakaris have a very sophisticated communication system, communicating across the forest using vocalizations and body language.

Draco Lizard

Draco lizards, often called “flying dragons,” have a unique flap of skin under their neck known as a dewlap. Using this flap, they create a lift and can glide from tree to tree. In moving between trees or when escaping predators, they extend their limbs and body, catching the wind as they go — and they can travel an average of 8 meters (26 feet).

Interestingly, when they’re not gliding, Draco lizards use their colorful dewlaps to advertise to or intimidate other males. They have their billboard in the treetops!

The Flying Squid

The flying squid, a remarkable creature from the Ommastrephidae family, defies nature by “flying” without wings. It jets itself out of the water using jet propulsion. David Brian Butvil of BBC Wildlife highlights that some species can cruise at more than 40kph (approximately 24.85 mph). The ability helps the squid escape predators and to hunt prey, making it an underwater acrobat.

The mechanics of how the squid glides are just fascinating to the scientists who study its flight. The flying squid is just one of many intriguing creatures found everywhere, from shallow coastal waters to deep sea trenches in oceans worldwide, making it a kind of symbol of nature’s ingenuity.

Umbrella Birds

Umbrella birds are native to South America, and they’re pretty incredible. They glide through the air with the aid of their massive umbrella-shaped crests, which have bomb paddles on them. These paddles help them control their flying movements and balance. Umbrella birds use their gliding to move from tree to tree, search for food, or find mates.

Their plethora of feathered crests is not simply a showy affair; it forms part of their aerodynamics and is an important part of their communication. These birds have goofy umbrella-shaped crests that can be raised or lowered, and these goofy umbrella-shaped crests can make these guys look even goofier when displaying to potential mates.

Flying Spiders

Some species of spiders, such as the “ballooning” spider, use silk to catch the wind and fly. This phenomenon of traveling for miles is a fascinating one. The spider releases a strand of silk, which the wind takes up, and carries the spider away.

Spiders that balloon are the real adventurers of the arachnid world, which is to say, they’re so good at it that they can catch the jet stream and be carried hundreds of miles!

Gliding Ants

Some ants, such as those of the Cephalotes genus, have figured out a way to glide. When they fall from a tree, they walk back on their limbs, splaying them out and steering themselves safely until they land on the trunk of another tree.

These gliding ants can return to their colony or avoid danger by flying. The gliding ants are so proficient in navigating their environment that they can change their flight mid-air to navigate correctly to their target if it is somewhere else. It’s just like a controlled parachute jump, but nature’s.

Flying Snakes

Flying snakes can flatten their bodies, gain some fish-like swimming actions, or undulate to create a wing-like effect that allows them to glide in the air. They flatten the surface of their ribs by spreading outward and move in a series of gentle ripples, driving themselves through the air, explains Jo Price for BBC Wildlife.

Flying snakes can do a neat trick on the lift: In mid-flight, they change direction, steering themselves through the air with surprising accuracy, rendering them incredible agile gliders.

Discaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.

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