News From the Field

Flapping baby birds give clues to origin of flight


August 28, 2014

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The origin of flight is a contentious issue: Some argue that tree-climbing dinosaurs learned to fly in order to avoid hard falls. Others favor the story that theropod dinosaurs ran along the ground and pumped their forelimbs to gain lift, eventually talking off. New evidence showing the early development of aerial righting in birds favors the tree-dweller hypothesis.Full Story

Source
University of California, Berkeley

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