Earliest Birds Had Long Leg Feathers

Elaine Meinel Supkis

A perfectly preserved bird 125 million years old shows the feathers clearly. Long flight feathers on legs as well as arms. I speculate these feathers were due to the same mutation lengthening arm scales and the earliest fliers used the leg feathers like tail feathers today, namely, for braking or controlling windflow, slowing down in preparation for landing. The feet didn't land first, it was always arms first.

Live Science:

Like the Wright brothers, the first flying dinosaurs took to the air with two sets of wings.

New analysis of the winged Microraptor gui suggests that the first feathered dinos relied on a biplane-like wing configuration to swoop from tree to tree. The result may settle a century-old controversy over how the first feathered creatures achieved flight.

“It is intriguing to contemplate that perhaps avian flight, like aircraft evolution, went through a biplane stage before the monoplane was introduced,” said Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University. “It seems likely that Microraptor invented the biplane 125 million years before the Wright 1903 Flyer.”

I have spent my life watching not only birds but flying squirrels and monkeys. I have either trained or played with all three. Modern birds almost universally land on their feet. Of course, penguins, for example, like to belly flop. When modern birds land either on a branch or water or land, they extend their feet and splay out the tail which has usually long feathers like the arms.

Here is a sketch of the skeleton of the Microraptor. Note how it has very articulated, long fingers with claws remarkably like a cat's claw, namely spring-hooked to grab. Ever throw a cat? They extend their claws and mostly using the front arms, will grab anything including your skin and hook it and try to disloge them once they do this! Cats are tree climbers like these earliest birds. Note also how tiny the hind legs are. Not very good for grasping much of anything but pretty good for shimmying up the trunks of the palm-tree or giant ferns that grew in huge forests hundreds of millions of years ago.

Most likely, the Microraptor flung itself off of the high canopy of the fern forests and sailed through the air until they descended and they used their legs to control the drop of fall so they could land where they wished. Flying squirrels do this by flexing the stretched skin between their front and back legs and whirling their flat tails, flicking them up and down or sideways depending on which branch or trunk they wish to land. The tail of the Microraptor is very long with hardly any feathering so it must have been merely a counterweight or if flicked from side to side, could cause tilt or rocking backwards so when landing, the heavy head doesn't bonk the Microraptor silly. Unlike modern birds, the head was quite heavy, relatively speaking, so the long, heavy tail was a good counterweight.

Probably, the creature often landed directly on the feathery fronds of the massively tall vegetation. Like many forest dwellers, it probably ate insects which were both large and very plentiful. The flying ability of many of them was probably no problem. The large dragonflies might have been one prey, snagging them mid-flight, a real possibility. Perhaps this is what made the feathering so vital just like bats use their wings to scoop up insects. It wouldn't surprise me if cockroaches which lived in abundance back then (some things never change!) were always scuttling up and down the trees, eating oozing juices or other insects, might have been main meals. Our earliest lemur ancestors ate bugs, too.

I just like drawing ancient life forms. Imagining I am these wonderful, long gone, creatures, is amusing and humbling at the same time. The distant past was rich in life forms and variations on many themes. It would be a wonder to time travel back 125 million years so long as I miss the Permian extinction, that is.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Comments

[big Al]

I was told, many years ago, that the africans, mash up locusts, and eat them like candy, so we are still eating bugs.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

I've eaten bugs! They aren't all that bad, like popcorn, even, or other manufactured genetically altered food, heh.

[gesundheit]

Sehr wertvolle Informationen! Empfehlen!

[cheap kamagra]

Don't you envy the freedom of birds, that they can fly without mechanical assistance? And no ticket needed!

[buy propecia]

have bird feeders in my yard to feed the tiny little birds that fly about, especially this time of year when it's really cold. The problem I am having is that there are alot of crow / black birds in our area and they are absolutely relentless when it comes to the bird feeders. I really don't care for these black birds at all.

[Wooden Bird Feeders]

Bird feeders are the greatest way to bring all kinds of exotic species of birds into ones life….

I currently reside in South Jersey….

I have a glass bird feeder in my front yard and it really is amazing all the beautiful birds that come into my yard…

Plus it makes me feel good that I’m providing them with a good food source…..

Thanks,
Chris

[generic viagra]

Something very interesting I would like to share with my friend. Thanks for sharing this
post. keep posting such a nice post.

.....Alex

[manolo blahnik]

I want all the stuff about Season 3 and I want no more loan comments! Now-se!

[Cheap Red Bottom shoes]

A good book is a best friend who never turns his back up on us.