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The "flying" frog is a frog that has the ability to glide. That is, it can descend at an angle of less than 45° relative to the horizontal. Arboreal
Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
 frogs (non-flying frogs) can also descend vertically, but only at angles greater than 45°, which is referred to as parachuting. Flying frogs have evolved independently among 3,400 species of frogs from both New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 (Hyla
Hyla

The genus Hyla is one of approximately 38 genera in the New World family of tree frogs . The word Hyla translates to "tree," and tree frogs are indeed arboreal....
) and Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
 (Rhacophoridae
Rhacophoridae

Rhacophoridae is a family of frog species, which occur in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. Most of the species are arboreal and this may include reproducing in trees....
) families and their evolution is seen as an adaptation to their life in trees, high above the ground.






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The "flying" frog is a frog that has the ability to glide. That is, it can descend at an angle of less than 45° relative to the horizontal. Arboreal
Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
 frogs (non-flying frogs) can also descend vertically, but only at angles greater than 45°, which is referred to as parachuting. Flying frogs have evolved independently among 3,400 species of frogs from both New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 (Hyla
Hyla

The genus Hyla is one of approximately 38 genera in the New World family of tree frogs . The word Hyla translates to "tree," and tree frogs are indeed arboreal....
) and Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
 (Rhacophoridae
Rhacophoridae

Rhacophoridae is a family of frog species, which occur in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. Most of the species are arboreal and this may include reproducing in trees....
) families and their evolution is seen as an adaptation to their life in trees, high above the ground. Characteristics of the Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
 species include "enlarged hands and feet, full webbing between all fingers and toes, lateral skin flaps on the arms and legs, and reduced weight per snout-vent length". These morphological changes contribute to the flying frog's aerodynamic abilities. Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace, Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Natural history, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist....
 made one of the earliest reports of the flying frog, from observations in the Indo-Malayan region . The species he observed was later termed Wallace's Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus
Rhacophorus nigropalmatus

The species Rhacophorus nigropalmatus, commonly known as Wallace's Flying Frog, is a moss frog found at least from to Malay Peninsula into western Indonesia....
). They have suction pads on their webbed feet which helps their balance in the high trees that they live in.

It is also possible to make frogs fly (more accurately, to levitate) by placing them in a magnetic field (see diamagnetic levitation).

See also

  • Flying and gliding animals
    Flying and gliding animals

    A number of animals have evolution aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding . Flying and gliding animals have evolved separately many times, without any single ancestor....