How did the prehistoric creature Archaeopteryx take flight and soar through the skies? Researchers think they may have finally found the answer.
Not all birds take off into the air the same way. Waterfowl, like the common loon, need a running start over water before they can take off, while a black-capped chickadee can take one powerful leap into the sky. Penguins can’t even fly.
But while there is plenty of documentation on how modern birds take flight, little is known about some of the earliest birds, such as Archaeopteryx. A new study published in Developmental Biology analyzes a 150-million-year-old reptile-like bird and reveals how it likely took to the air.
“We know Archaeopteryx couldn't rely on its wings to take off — with no keeled sternum, and a shoulder that couldn't lift the wing above the back — so we asked what its legs could contribute. It turns out that is where take-off is won: the legs generate the force, and the wings take over afterward,” Markus Heller, a professor of Biomechanics at Southampton, said in the press release.
Read More: What Makes Archaeopteryx Fossils the Bizarre Bridge Between Dinos and Birds?
Archaeopteryx: The First Bird
Archaeopteryx lived during the late Jurassic Period and was rather small, only about 2 feet long, according to the Natural History Museum. Whether Archaeopteryx is a bird or a non-avian dinosaur has been debated; however, some researchers consider it the first bird.
“Archaeopteryx is the first real bird,” explained palaeobiologist at the University of Southampton, Neil Gostling, in a press release. “It was covered in feathers and possessed wings, but also retained a number of distinctly dinosaur features, such as a long bony tail, claws on separate fingers, and teeth in a beakless jaw. It wasn’t a particularly well-developed ‘bird’ compared to those we know today.”
From Archaeopteryx fossils, we know that it likely had limited shoulder mobility and no breastbone. The lack of these two features likely made it difficult to quickly reach flight, unlike many of today’s birds.
How Did Archaeopteryx Take Off?
Previous research has offered a few theories as to how Archaeopteryx left the ground, from perhaps gliding from a tree or a cliff, or running up an incline while flapping its wings. These theories have been difficult to test experimentally in the past. To test these theories, the team combined advanced computer models, observations made by the late Colin Palmer, behaviors from living birds such as gulls, crows, magpies, and finches, and fitted them all to Archaeopteryx's anatomy.
This information helped the team analyze joint movements at the knee, hip, and ankle, as well as muscle capacity, to estimate Archaeopteryx’s take-off velocity.
“Our findings show that a mid-sized, 400g Archaeopteryx could have achieved a sustainable flight speed of seven meters per second with three bipedal leaps, or with two bipedal leaps with a downward flap between jumps,” said Erik Meilak, a former Ph.D. researcher at the University of Southampton who carried out the study, in the press release.
Archaeopteryx could likely take off in a few leaps instead of expending more energy and taking off in a single leap, like many modern birds do today, according to the press release. Instead, Archaeopteryx's take-off resembles that of crows, seagulls, and magpies, which also use a multi-hop takeoff.
“All birds push with their legs when they take off,” Gostling said. “In fact, up to 90 percent of the force required to get off the ground comes from the legs, and then the wings take over. Archaeopteryx would have either taken off with a leap, leap, leap and then lots of flapping, or a leap, a flap, another leap and more flapping.”
Read More: Archaeopteryx — The Earliest Known Bird — Had a Strange Mouth, but Fed Like Modern Birds
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in Developmental Biology:Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx using a multiple leaping mechanism
- This article references information from the Natural History Museum: Archaeopteryx