Understanding Animal Movement

There are an astounding number of ways in whichHowever, the wings of bats, birds and flying
animals move on the land, in the air and inreptiles are alike in having bones. An insect's wing,
water.Land-dwelling mammals can to walk, run andlike an insect's body, has no bones at all. The
jump. Salamanders, turtles and lizards also walk,veins that strengthen its wing are really air tubes
but are often said to crawl. Termites and ants arewith strong walls.A great many animals also live in
among the many insects that walk a great dealthe water, primarily because there is much more
too. Grasshoppers and crickets jump, but theyroom for them than on land. Mammals, such as
also walk about slowly when they are eating. Evendolphins and whales, live only in the water. Many
flying birds must be able to walk or hop on land.birds do a great deal of paddling about in the
The garden snail produces a watery liquid thatwater. Reptiles, like turtles and amphibian animals,
serves as a private lake. This snail rolls throughlike frogs, can also live half their lives in a body of
this lake by contracting muscles that move itswater. But most of the swimming animals belong
skin. This is also another form of animalto the class of fishes. The movement of a fish's
movement on land.Many animals live in the groundtail fin helps propel a fish through the water. Yet
and must get from place to place. Moles andmany fish can still swim even if most of the tail
other burrowing animals dig their way through thefin is a bitten or cut off.They can push
earth rapidly with shovel-like legs. Earthwormsthemselves through the water by twisting their
often eat their way through. When the soil isbodies from side to side. Some fish can also
loose, they push through it in the same way thatmove forward or backward by means of their
they move on the surface of the ground. Aside fins. Other animals move through the water
worm also moves about by digging into theby jet propulsion. Squids and cuttlefish suck water
ground and making itself longer and then shorter.into their bodies and then squirt it out. This shoots
In this way it pulls itself ahead.Several otherthem forward. Jellyfish also swim by jet
animals fly through the air to transportpropulsion. They open their jelly umbrellas and
themselves. Others, like flying squirrels, flyingthen rapidly close them. When the stream of
frogs, flying fish and flying lizards do not really flywater gets out, the jellyfish is pushed forward.
but instead glide through the air. The best glidersMany tiny animals row themselves through water.
are the flying fish that leap from the water withThey have tiny hairs called cilia which act as oars.
such force that they can glide as far as 50Other tiny creatures have whiplike threads with
yards.A true flying animal has the ability to propelwhich they pull themselves forward.There are still
itself through the air by beating its wings againstmore curious ways in which animals move. Some
the air. Only four groups of animals haveride from place to place on other animals, like the
produced species that can truly fly: they are theremora fish. It fastens itself onto sharks or other
bats, the birds, the insects and the flying reptilesbig fish so that when the sharks kill another fish,
that died out with the dinosaurs. Each group hasthe remora frees itself to go after a part of the
its own kind of wing design and aerodynamics.meal.