Page 102 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #05

Q&A

Q DRAGONS AND DAMSELS
Q ALIEN SPECIES
Which dragonfly has Are there any mammals

the longest migration? left in the Everglades?
A
Yes. Though alien Burmese pythons have
all but emptied these wetlands of mammals
A This accolade goes to dragonflies can also fly at such as raccoons, opossums, rabbits and deer,
the wandering glider altitudes higher than one of the few species still thriving here is the
(or globe skimmer), 1,000m, allowing hispid cotton rat, which the snakes tend to
whose migration them to navigate avoid in favour of larger prey.
from India to mountain ranges. But this has wider implications for humans.
Africa is also Wandering Because the pythons have vastly limited the
thought to be gliders occur mammal menu for local mosquitoes, these
the longest on every blood-thirsty insects are increasingly targeting
of any insect continent except the rats. This in turn may intensify the spread
in the world. Antarctica. of the Everglades virus, which the rats host.
The gliders In fact, the Numbers of this escapee python boomed in
follow rainfall species is so the early 2000s, and the species could spread
patterns, cosmopolitan that north as the climate changes. By 2100, even
breeding in Gliders soar on research suggests New York could provide suitable weather.
warm currents to
temporary pools on conserve energy. that individuals on Liz Kalaugher
islands along the opposite sides of the The Burmese
python: Florida's
way. By using their world are as closely related
unwelcome intruder.
uniquely broad hindwings to as they are to their nearest
soar on warm, moist winds and eating neighbours. Sadly, the insects rarely make
tiny airborne insects, the gliders are it to the UK – the most recent confirmed
able to undergo the only known insect sighting, from Kent in 1989, is suspected
trans-oceanic migration, with enormous to have been an accidental import.
swarms traversing at least 3,500km. The Genevieve Dalley

Q MARINE BIOLOGY
How do flying

fish ‘fly’?

A ‘Flying’ fish occur across Flying fish hurtle above
tropical seas and are famous for the water for tens or even
their unlikely ability to leap out hundreds of metres.
of the water and whizz through glide, wings steady, like paper
Dragonfly: Elizabeth Masoner/A amy; python: Photo Researchers/FLPA;fly ng fish: Martin Hale/FLPA
the air above the waves. All of aeroplanes. Researchers have
the 50 or so species of flying discovered that the animals are
fish have impressive ‘wings’, as efficient at gliding as hawks.
composed of either one or two Flying fish go to the effort of
pairs of wide, elongated fins leaving their normal habitat in
that they unfurl to perform their order to escape predators who
aeronautical acrobatics. can’t see through the mirror-like
Strictly speaking, these fish surface of the sea. They are also
aren’t flying, but gliding. They able to change direction while
don’t flap their wings, but build airborne and plop back down
up speed underwater with in a spot where their enemies
beats of their tail, then launch won’t be expecting them.
through the waterline and Helen Scales

102 BBC Wildlife Spring 2018