New Israeli fossil research shows some winged dinosaurs lost ability to fly |
A new study of rare 160-million-year-old dinosaur fossils has opened a fresh window onto the evolution of flight in dinosaurs and birds
By examining fossilized feather molting patterns, Yosef Kiat, a researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Zoology School and Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, found indications that some dinosaurs with wings had lost the ability to fly.
In the study, nine fossils from eastern China were examined. All belonged to a small, birdlike dinosaur, Anchiornis huxleyi, which walked on two legs and had four feathered wings. The feathers remained on the fossils thanks to the environmental conditions prevailing during fossilization. These specific nine fossils were chosen because the wing feathers still retained their color — white, with a black spot at the tip.
The arrangement of the feathers enabled Kiat, an ornithologist and feather expert, and his team to analyze molting patterns.
Birds that fly molt in an orderly, gradual process that maintains symmetry between the wings and allows for flight during molting, Kiat explained.
In birds that cannot fly,........