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What is the context of this research?

Gliding animals challenge our notion of unpowered flight. Though they cannot flap, these animals change the size and shape of their body parts to create and control aerodynamic forces as they glide. Gliding animals can outdo man-made gliders by covering large distances for their body size, while deftly negotiating obstacles as they fly through dense forests. The flying lizard is unique in that it glides using wing membranes supported by retractable ribs on either side of its body, leaving the limbs free for take off, landing, and climbing. Insights from this body design and its control promises to expand our understanding of the biomechanics of animal gliding and can inspire novel aerial drone designs for cluttered environments, or wing suits optimized for motion on both land and air.

What is the significance of this project?

Gliding in animals has been largely modeled as if they were simple rigid fixed-wing gliders. This ignores the real complexity of flight since animals alter their body posture and limbs as they rapidly take off, glide, and land from one point to the other. For the first time, my study will provide high resolution 3D tracks coupled with body posture and size measurements in flying lizards. This study will be a significant leap from previous qualitative work done, by quantitatively identifying their unique gliding strategies. In general, this work will highlight the joint roles of wing shape, limb and tail movement in unpowered flight of animals and bridge the conceptual gap between animal and fixed-wing gliders.

What are the goals of the project?

I intend to understand the unique gliding capabilities of flying lizards using morphometric measurements and 3D video tracking. The goal of this study is three-tiered. First we will capture, tag and record size and weight measurements of lizards for morphometric analysis. Next, I will understand the role of the limbs and body orientation of the lizard during take off, glide and landing by obtaining the relative positions of body points like the head, limbs, wing tip and tail. Lastly, I will identify gliding strategies and aerodynamic forces in action by using the generated 3D coordinates to extract velocity and acceleration profiles. Together, this project seeks to provide a comprehensive perspective into the gliding biomechanics of flying lizards.