How do sugar gliders fly without feathers? What makes sharks built for speed? How do snakes move without limbs? The answer lies in their skin. Professor Ben Garrod uncovers the secrets of how skin has allowed animals to move through every habitat on the planet. In an experiment new to science, Ben heads to the specialist flight centre at the Royal Veterinary College to analyse the way a sugar glider uses its skin flaps to stay aloft. He goes diving with sharks at the Blue Planet Aquarium and discovers that far from being smooth, shark skin is incredibly rough. It's covered with thousands of tiny teeth that make a shark hydrodynamic. Ben also finds out how the keratinised scales on snakes' bellies are the perfect configuration to allow them to move over virtually any surface they encounter.

Originally released by BBC Worldwide Learning, 2019. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on June 03, 2022.