It could be that they arch the back to twist the patagium. However, he adds, Dehling hasn’t yet proven that the lizards also steer using their forelimbs. Dehling’s study is the first to document this, he says. “I’ve been well aware of this for years, but not certain that they always do it while gliding,” says Jim McGuire, a herpetologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Angel (Feather) Bat (Bat Blood) Evil (Bone) Dragon (Leather). Some fossil reptiles could have used a similar control method, he says.ĭehling isn’t the first to notice the lizards’ unusual mode of flight. Wings introduces nine pairs of wings of avian and insectoid variety for quick aerial. If so, it would make the lizard unique among modern flying vertebrates in controlling flight with something other than the flight surface itself. Besides helping to spread the patagium, the lizard’s grip could also let the animal bend it to steer its flightpath, says Dehling. This suggests that their limbs have evolved for the task. When Dehling examined museum specimens, he found that Draco lizards could do this, but other related lizards could not. To grab its wings, the lizards need to rotate their wrists forward about 90 degrees.

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