About 100 years ago, man invented the airplane. Before that, only birds, insects, and bats knew how to fly. Millions of years ago, there were some dinosaurs that could fly, but they became extinct long before man lived on earth.

There are two kinds of flight in the natural world: gliding flight and true flight. When something glides, it floats through the air without using power. True flight requires energy to move wings up and down.

Gliding Flight

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 jumped 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.

True Flight

The first creatures to fly were insects, long before dinosaurs even lived. Insects have either two or four wings that move very fast when they fly. Insects can move forward, stay in one place (hover) like a helicopter, or even fly backwards. Insects live everywhere in the world.

Birds are the best fliers. Everything in their body is just right for flying. They are lightweight. Feathers make their bodies smooth, so they can go through the air easily. They eat the right foods to give them lots of energy. They have good eyes to see far away. Birds live everywhere in the world.

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. They do not have feathers like birds. They have wings that are like our arm and finger bones with skin stretched in-between. Bats are good for the earth because they eat lots of insects. Bats like to live where it is warm. They are nocturnal. Nocturnal means that they are active at night.

For many years man tried to fly. Flying looked so easy and fun. People are not strong enough to fly like birds. Man had to invent the airplane before we could fly.

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Last modified: Mon Jul 7 11:01:53 PDT 1997