A group of international researchers found that most ancient birds likely had flight abilities similar to that of modern-day birds. By studying a wing fossil that is said to be 125 million years old, experts were given a fresh insight.
The history of bird evolution is a significantly long one. Archaeopteryx, which lived about 150 million years ago is one of the earliest species. Although the avian evolution has been the subject of interest by experts for so long, scientific controversies still envelope the flying capabilities of ancient birds, including the quality of flight should it had existed.
To investigate deeper, researchers from the University of Bristol, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and U.S. National History Museum, examined a 125-million-year-old bird fossil collected from central Spain.
Aside from exhibiting articulated bone structures of the forelimbs, the fossils also had rich remains of the plumage and wing's soft tissues.
The fossils particularly shows a detailed arrangement of fibres, which anatomically parallels the modern birds' perplex system of ligaments, tendons and muscles. To enable the birds to fly successfully, the said system guarantees the positioning and regulates the intricate adaptations of the wing's primary feathers.
With the discovery that the ancient birds also possessed such features, the premise that the species were also able to perform aerodynamic capabilities similar to today's living birds were supported well.
Guillermo Navalón, the study lead author and a graduate student from the University of Bristol said that it is very surprising to know that even if the skeletal features are somehow different from the living birds, the ancient birds had significant similarities in the soft-tissue anatomy.
Although the possibility that ancient birds may have glided over the dinosaurs' heads, some areas of these birds' specific flight features are not yet fully established.
Spanish paleontologist and study co-author, Dr Jesús Marugán Lobón from Universidad Autónoma in Madrid said that fossils such as the one they studied may be considered an "open window" that leads to deep time. Such specimens enable experts to have access to the most detailed areas of early bird flight evolution.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
