Leaves and seeds from plants have been gliding for millions of years. Some seeds even have wings to help them glide through the air. Some seeds have little hairs that act like parachutes to help them glide far away from the mother plant.

Some animals appear to fly, but they are really gliding. The very first bird, who lived during the time of the dinosaurs, 135,000,000 years ago, could not fly. Scientists think his wings and feathers were used like parachutes when jumping from the tree tops.

Some kinds of frogs, lizards, and snakes can glide between trees. They have extra flaps of skin on their bodies that act like parachutes when they jump.

Some mammals have extra skin between their front and back legs. Their whole bodies act like parachutes as they glide from branch to branch. These small flying mammals include the flying squirrel and flying lemur. There are flying squirrels in North America.

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Last modified: Mon Jul 7 11:05:25 PDT 1997