Tag: skydiving

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    Skydiving Salamanders

    The wandering salamander can spend its entire 20-year lifespan in the canopy of a coast redwood. When predators come calling, they have a special skill that helps them get away: skydiving. These little amphibians have no webbed appendages and no wings, but they’re some of the most skillful skydivers out there. By carefully repositioning its tail and feet, a wandering salamander controls its pitch, yaw, and roll. It’s not only able to orient itself as it falls; it can actually steer itself to a safe landing! Other salamander species, as seen in the video above, do not share this skill. Check out the full Deep Look video to see these incredible gliders in action. (Video and image credit: Deep Look; see also C. Brown)

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    Skydiving Indoors

    Vertical wind tunnels like this one simulate the experience of skydiving with air speeds up to 270 km/h (168 mph). Here expert freefallers perform a routine similar to synchronized skydiving. By changing the angle and shape of their body with respect to the air flow, they are able to control their lift and drag to produce complex motion in three dimensions.