ICAT Playdate — How flying squirrels glide

We are interested in understanding how animals move in the context of their environment. How does forest structure influence the path of a flying animal when it can only glide? As a first step toward addressing that question, we are studying the precise three-dimensional movement of flying squirrels throughout their entire glide trajectory, from jump to landing. In this talk, I will discuss 1) our team’s efforts at developing methods for studying animals in their natural environment, and 2) a recent experiment in New York state in which we recorded flying squirrels gliding in an indoor arena. This effort used an array of 10 GoPro cameras along with 5 high-speed cameras to record and track their complete trajectories.