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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photo: Dino-Era Bird Flew With Four Wings, Study Says


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A well-preserved fossil specimen of Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird (left), is housed in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, Germany. The fossil imprint shows feathers along all four limbs and the animal's long tail.

New analysis of the fossil and others suggests that the dino-era species used both forelimbs and hind limbs to glide, as seen in this reconstruction (right). The study supports the theory that birds first took to the skies by gliding from trees.

Illustration and photograph courtesy Nick Longrich