Aneides vagrans, also called the wandering salamander, is an elusive creature. Its natural habitat is the canopy of California's redwood trees, the world's tallest trees.
One thing we know about this salamander is that it will jump from tree branches if disturbed, assuming a posture similar to that taken by skydivers.
Christian Brown, a PhD Candidate of the University of South Florida and an author of the study, said it was confusing to see the salamanders jump so quickly.
Brown told Insider that the salamanders are well adapted to living in the canopy.
They have prehensile tails, long limbs, and flattened bodies that are perfect for climbing.
Their long narrow bodies don't look aerodynamic. The gliding leaf frog does not have skin flaps which might help it glide.
Brown and other scientists at the University of South Florida and the University of California, Berkeley set out to understand what the salamander could do.
The scientists put the salamanders in wind tunnels to make them fall from the tree. The results of their study were published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The salamanders have atoire of postures and movements that they use to control their drop, according to Brown.
Video stills show how A. vagrans assumes a skydiving-ike position. Christian.
The salamanders were able to keep their bodies parallel to the ground while they were falling by twisting their tails.
Brown said they could execute banking turns and glide horizontally.
The salamander reduced its vertical speed by up to 10 percent by adopting this skydiving-like posture.
Brown told Insider that he is studying whether the salamanders can direct their flight to avoid falling.
He thinks it is more likely that they will come back towards the trunk to grasp the lower limbs if they can.
Brown said that if they fell down to the ground, they would not be killed. The salamanders are light and do not weigh much. The soft redwood duff around the base of the tree could be used to cushion their fall.
The wandering salamander is called A. vagrans. Christian Brown.
The hike back up the redwood might be fatal. It could take hours or days to get back up to the canopy.
They could be preyed upon, or simply run out of energy before finding food again.
Brown said that other animals could have new parachuting and gliding abilities that people have yet to notice.
He hopes the study will bring attention to the poorly understood nature of the canopy.
According to the press release, he said that scientists have barely scratched the surface in studying the redwood canopy and the unique fauna it has shaped through evolutionary time.
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