Below are a series of videos of bats flying in a wind tunnel. Each clip has been significantly slowed down for better viewing. The silver spots on the bat wings and body are reflective tape that we use to track the position of various segments of the wing during flight.
*NOTE: The videos are dark, and you may have to increase the contrast of your screen in order to see the bat.
The last version of Flash Player is needed to play the movies. The player can be downloaded here.
Lesser short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, flying in a wind tunnel (ventral view)
Stick figure model of a lesser short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, flying in a wind tunnel. The model was based in 3D position of reflective markers obtained from digitizing kinematic videos.
Smoke visualization of the wake left behind by a lesser short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, flying in a wind tunnel (lateral view)
