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Flight
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==== Animal flight ==== {{Main|Flying and gliding animals}} [[File:Female mallard flight - natures pics.jpg|thumb|Female [[mallard]] duck]] [[File:Tau Emerald inflight edit.jpg|thumb|Tau emerald [[dragonfly]]]] [[File:Kea in Flight MC.jpg|thumb|[[Kea]]]] The only groups of [[Flying and gliding animals|living things that use powered flight]] are [[bird]]s, [[insect]]s, and [[bat]]s, while many groups have evolved gliding. The extinct [[pterosaur]]s, an [[Order (biology)|order]] of reptiles contemporaneous with the [[dinosaur]]s, were also very successful flying animals,<ref name="averof"/> and there were apparently some [[flying dinosaur]]s. Each of these groups' [[wing]]s [[Convergent evolution|evolved independently]], with insects the first animal group to evolve flight.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012420-050035|doi-access=free|title=The State of the World's Insects|year=2020|last1=Eggleton|first1=Paul|journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources|volume=45|pages=61β82}}</ref> The wings of the flying vertebrate groups are all based on the forelimbs, but differ significantly in structure; insect wings are hypothesized to be highly modified versions of structures that form gills in most other groups of [[arthropod]]s.<ref name="averof">Averof, Michalis. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v385/n6617/abs/385627a0.html "Evolutionary origin of insect wings from ancestral gills."] ''Nature'', Volume 385, Issue 385, February 1997, pp. 627β630.</ref> [[Bat]]s are the only [[mammal]]s capable of sustaining level flight (see ''[[bat flight]]'').<ref>''World Book Student.'' Chicago: World Book. Retrieved: April 29, 2011.</ref> However, there are several [[Flying squirrel|gliding mammals]] which are able to glide from tree to tree using fleshy membranes between their limbs; some can travel hundreds of meters in this way with very little loss in height. [[Flying frog]]s use greatly enlarged webbed feet for a similar purpose, and there are [[Draco blanfordii|flying lizards]] which fold out their mobile ribs into a pair of flat gliding surfaces. [[Chrysopelea|"Flying" snakes]] also use mobile ribs to flatten their body into an aerodynamic shape, with a back and forth motion much the same as they use on the ground. [[Flying fish]] can glide using enlarged wing-like fins, and have been observed soaring for hundreds of meters. It is thought that this ability was chosen by [[natural selection]] because it was an effective means of escape from underwater predators. The longest recorded flight of a flying fish was 45 seconds.<ref name=aa>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7410421.stm "BBC article and video of flying fish."] ''BBC'', May 20, 2008. Retrieved: May 20, 2008.</ref> [[Bird flight|Most birds can fly]], with some exceptions. The largest birds, the [[ostrich]] and the [[emu]], are earthbound [[flightless bird]]s, as were the now-extinct [[dodo]]s and the [[Phorusrhacids]], which were the dominant predators of [[South America]] in the [[Cenozoic]] era. The non-flying [[penguin]]s have wings adapted for use under water and use the same wing movements for swimming that most other birds use for flight.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}} Most small flightless birds are native to small islands, and lead a lifestyle where flight would offer little advantage. Among living animals that fly, the [[wandering albatross]] has the greatest wingspan, up to {{convert|3.5|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}; the [[great bustard]] has the greatest weight, topping at {{convert|21|kg|lb|abbr=off}}.<ref>[http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/id.htm "Swan Identification."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031082245/http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/id.htm |date=2006-10-31 }} ''The Trumpeter Swan Society.'' Retrieved: January 3, 2012.</ref> Most species of [[insect]]s can fly as adults. [[Insect flight]] makes use of either of two basic aerodynamic models: creating a leading edge vortex, found in most insects, and using [[clap and fling]], found in very small insects such as [[thrips]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.physics.emory.edu/~weeks/lab/papers/jwang-arf05.pdf |last=Wang|first= Z. Jane |author-link=Z. Jane Wang|title=Dissecting Insect Flight |doi=10.1146/annurev.fluid.36.050802.121940 |year=2005 |bibcode=2005AnRFM..37..183W |journal=Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=183β210 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/diorio/MURI2003/Publications/sane_review.pdf | title=The aerodynamics of insect flight | author=Sane, Sanjay P. | journal=The Journal of Experimental Biology | year=2003 | volume=206 | pages=4191β4208 | doi=10.1242/jeb.00663 | pmid=14581590 | issue=23| s2cid=17453426 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2003JExpB.206.4191S }}</ref> Many species of [[spider]]s, [[spider mite]]s and [[lepidoptera]] use a technique called [[Ballooning (spider)|ballooning]] to ride [[air current]]s such as [[thermal]]s, by exposing their [[Spider silk|gossamer threads]] which gets lifted by wind and [[Atmosphere|atmospheric]] [[electric field]]s.
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