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Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Darth Vader Ant With Superhero Gliding Skills

Their skills eluded observation until early this century, but you can add another animal on to the list of those who have developed the ability to glide. Joining snakes, squirrels, frogs and lizards with those superhero-like gliding skills is a species of ant.

And what an ant! The Darth Vader of the insect world, Cephalotes atratus, inhabits the canopy of the tropical forest systems of Central and South America. That's a long way up and if an ant was to fall it would lead to almost certain death on the floor of the forest. With its long hind legs it looks scary enough, yet it is probably these features which have evolved over time to enable the ant to glide.

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