Gliding flight

Gliding flight is unpowered aerial movement in which an animal travels forward while losing height. It uses aerodynamic forces to extend movement without flapping or other propulsion.

Lift (force): The aerodynamic force perpendicular to an object's motion through air relative to the surrounding flow. Lift counters gravity and slows the loss of height during a glide.
Aerodynamics: The study of how gases move and exert forces on bodies. Gliding flight follows aerodynamic principles even without active propulsion.
Flying squirrel: A tree-dwelling rodent that glides using a skin membrane stretched between its limbs. Its patagium and tail demonstrate a mammalian form of controlled gliding.
Wingsuit flying: A human sport in which a fabric suit increases body surface area for controlled descent and forward travel. Wingsuits adapt the gliding surfaces of animals to human bodies.
Drag (physics): A resistive force that opposes an object's motion through a fluid such as air. Drag reduces forward speed and limits the distance covered in a glide.
Wing: An appendage or surface that generates aerodynamic forces and supports flight or gliding. Wings provide the broad surfaces that produce lift in many gliding animals.
Colugo: An arboreal mammal of Southeast Asia with a broad membrane extending between its limbs and tail. Its extensive gliding membrane is among the largest relative to body size in mammals.
Hang gliding: A recreational and competitive form of flight using a pilot-suspended fabric wing and a rigid frame. Hang gliders provide a human-controlled analogue of unpowered animal gliding.
Glide ratio: The horizontal distance traveled divided by the vertical distance lost during a glide. It measures how effectively a gliding animal converts height into forward travel.
Patagium: A membrane of skin or other tissue stretched between body parts, often forming a gliding surface. In several mammals, this membrane turns limbs and torso into an airfoil-like surface.

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