Download or read book Catching Air: Taking the Leap with Gliding Animals (How Nature Works) written by Sneed B. Collard and published by Tilbury House Publishers and Cadent Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-28 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Junior Library Guild Selection 2017* Only a few dozen vertebrate animals have evolved true gliding abilities, but they include an astonishing variety of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. North America’s flying squirrels and Australia’s sugar gliders notwithstanding, the vast majority of them live in rainforests. Illustrated with arresting photographs, Catching Air takes us around the world to meet these animals, learn why so many gliders live in Southeast Asia, and find out why this gravity-defying ability has evolved in Draco lizards, snakes, and frogs as well as mammals. Why do gliders stop short of flying, how did bats make that final leap, and how did Homo sapiens bypass evolution to glide via wingsuits and hang gliders—or is that evolution in another guise? Fountas & Pinnell Level R