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When Lemurs Fly
Tiny high-tech backpack tracks colugos gliding through the forest
When it comes to aerial prowess, the colugo—a.k.a. the “flying lemur”—could give Rocky the Flying Squirrel a run for his money. To get from tree to tree, the colugo uses the skin between its limbs like makeshift wings, gliding as far as 110 meters at a time. Along the way, it can knock off an array of complicated stunts, such as squeezing through tangled branches without slowing down, or making 90-degree turns in midair. Now, a University of California researcher has developed a way to monitor the animals that is nearly as dramatic as the flights themselves: a tiny, high-tech “backpack” that stays glued to the colugos while they veer through the canopy.
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