The evolution of flight explained

Scientists at the University of Southampton explain the evolution of flight, with a month-long experiments of a life-sized Microraptor placed in a wind tunnel. Have a look at the video…

Images © University of Southampton

The first dinosaur described with feathers lived around 140million years ago and had 5 lifting surfaces.

Gareth Dyke, a senior lecturer in vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Southampton and co-author of the study, said:

“Significant to the evolution of flight, we show that Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, ‘modern’ wing morphology to undertake effective glides, as the high-lift coefficient regime is less dependent upon detail of wing morphology.

This is consistent with the fossil record, and also with the hypothesis that symmetric ‘flight’ feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form aerodynamically capable surfaces.’