Would a large gliding predator be viable?

Most animals that glide are rather light and small. Flying squirrels, Colugos, and sugar gliders all weigh but a few ounces. The largest gliding predators are snakes of the Chrysopelea genus. Again, they weigh but a few ounces. But could it be possible for a larger animal to glide? After all, there are eagles that weigh nearly twenty pounds, could a gliding animal not rival that size with proper adaptations and selective pressure?

My idea is that this animal is not optimized for going long distance like these real animals, but being able to make jumps it otherwise couldn't, and to safely land from great heights instead of splattering when it falls out of the tree.

This animal glides primarily to attack prey moving on the forest floor, by jumping and silently gliding with relatively little horizontal gain it is still able to safely and silently land on the back of its prey and kill it with a swift and strong bite (think of a leopard) It does most of its actual movements in the trees through basic climbing assisted by a prehensile tail.

So is a large (+10 Kilograms) gliding predator feasible?

posted almost 5 years ago

NixonCranium‭

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