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4 Winged Creature Increases Dino-Bird Link

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  • #2
    Galvasean
    Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭ Galvasean


    Hopefully this will be enough to end the debate once and for all. The BAND (Birds Are Not Dinosaurs) camp's last bastion of refuge was the fact that no earlier and more primitive feathered relatives of Archaeopteryx had been found. The discovery of Anchiornis huxleyi (it's name a nice nod to Thomas Huxley) puts that problem to rest.

    _46439145_dino_xing_466.jpg


  • #3
    kiffer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,097 ✭✭✭ kiffer


    Just saw this and wondered if feathered rear legs really count as wings?

    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/dinosaur/


  • #4
    Weidii
    Closed Accounts Posts: 842 ✭✭✭ Weidii


    Brilliant! I wonder what position the legs took when the creature was in flight. I guess that would determine whether they acted more like wings (lift) or tail feathers (steerage)


  • #5
    Galvasean
    Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭ Galvasean


    kiffer wrote: »
    Just saw this and wondered if feathered rear legs really count as wings?

    Well, they couldn't be flapped for powered flight, so they are not true wings as such. However, the feathers are indeed the same as flight feathers so woul have been useful for gliding. It represents a stage in flight evolution where full powered flight had not been developed yet, but gliding is an important step on the way to it.


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