The Influence of Wing and Tail Morphology on the Aerodynamics of Gliding Mammals

In the evolutionary history of biology, aside from birds and insects, which excel at flapping flight, some mammals have also developed the ability to fly. These mammals use an evolved patagium to form an aerodynamic surface capable of generating lift. In bats, the wing membrane extends between elongated finger bones and the body, enabling powered flight through flapping. Another group of animals, known as gliding mammals , has a wing membrane that stretches between their limbs and tail. Instead of flapping, they achieve flight by leaping between trees to gain initial velocity. These gliding mammals are distributed across various regions of the world and exhibit morphological diversity. Apart from differences in body size, their primary variations lie in the shape of the patagium, the uropatagium (the membrane between the hindlimbs and tail), and the structure of the tail. In this work, we investigate three different patagia configurations and three combinations of uropatagium and tail shapes using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results indicate that different patagia designs contribute to an increase in lift during flight. The tail of colugo has the best lifting performance and pitch agility. The flat tail has best lateral maneuverability, although less improvement in lift when the tail rotate.