Accelerometer backpacks aid study of gliding behavior in the 'flying' lemur

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A feeding colugo sports a backpack containing accelerometers and flash memory to record several days worth of data on its gliding in particular take-offs and landings. The device is glued to a shaved area on the animals back and falls off after a few ...
A feeding colugo sports a backpack containing accelerometers and flash memory to record several day's worth of data on its gliding, in particular take-offs and landings. The device is glued to a shaved area on the animal's back and falls off after a few days. Credit: Norman Lim/National University of Singapore

The "flying" lemur of Malaysia is the champion of all gliding mammals, able to drop from the forest canopy, glide more than the length of two football fields, execute 90-degree turns and then alight gently on a tree trunk.


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