Dino model shows the glide path to flight

Scientists using a wind tunnel and a full-scale model have shed light on how feathery dinosaurs adapted to the skies, a study said on Wednesday. A widening consensus among palaeontologists is that birds evolved from small, feathery dinos -- but the question is: how? Researchers at the University of Southampton created an anatomically correct model of a five-winged "paravian," a type of dinosaur deemed to be a precursor of birds. They made a microraptor, a denizen of the Early Cretaceous that lived around 130 million years ago. It was the first known theropod, or two-footed dinosaur, to have feathers on its arms, legs and tail, providing it potentially with five surfaces with which to gain "lift" against the air. Experiments in a wind tunnel, supported by flight simulations, showed that even though these wings were rudimentary compared to those of modern birds, the critter could still carry out slow glides from low heights. From a height of about 30 metres (100 feet), it could glide between 70 and 100 metres (yards) -- a useful means of grabbing a prey or fleeing a predator. Judged by this, microraptor probably climbed a bit, foraged for food on the ground and glided only on occasion, say the authors. "Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, 'modern' wing morphology to undertake effective glides," says the paper, published in Nature Communications. "(...) [S]ymmetric feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form lifting surfaces." A leading hypothesis in the origin of birds is that, after learning to glide, feathered dinosaurs underwent evolutionary pressures that led to a more sophisticated wing, able to flap efficiently and adapt its shape to winds.