48 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Flight
WHEN THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
took to the skies in 1903, they
were relative latecomers — insects
already had been buzzing around
for 325 million years. But in a
little over a century, our species
has more than made up for its
Earth-bound origins, visiting every
planet in the solar system and even
penetrating interstellar space.
FEATHERS
Like modern
bird plumage,
the feathers of
Archaeopteryx
are asymmetrical,
a geometry that
can generate
aerodynamic lift
by pushing air
under the wing.SHOULDER
The shoulder joint of Archaeopteryx is
transitional between those of ancestral
dinosaurs and birds. The earlier dinos’
shoulders pointed downward, letting them
manipulate prey with their arms. Bird shoulders
point up, allowing them to raise their wings
above their backs. The sideways orientation
of the Archaeopteryx shoulder allowed
flapping, but limited the upstroke.WING
The arm bones of
Archaeopteryx are
hollow, likely an
essential adaptation
for flight because it
lightens body weight.
In addition, many
blood vessels are
visible, suggesting
vigorous movement
— like flapping.
Based on arm bone
geometry, the flight
of Archaeopteryx
likely resembled
the fluttering of
pheasants more than
the soaring of hawks.Paleontologists have
found 12 full-body fossils
of Archaeopteryx. The
one above is known as
the Berlin specimen.BREAST
Archaeopteryx
lacked the modern
bird’s prominent
breastbone,
which anchors
flight muscles
and guides the
tendons that
facilitate a rapid
upstroke. Arm
muscles appear to
be more broadly
distributed in
Archaeopteryx,
even running
along the belly,
probably making
flying more
arduous than it is
for modern birds.TAIL
Unlike modern birds,
Archaeopteryx had verte-
brae running through its
tail, and asymmetrical tail
feathers. The purpose of
both remains mysterious.Flight of the
Archaeopteryx
Two years after Charles Darwin
published On the Origin of
Species, the discovery of a miss-
ing link between dinosaurs and
birds gave evolutionary theory
a fortuitous credibility boost.
Found in southern Germany,
the 150 million-year-old
Archaeopteryx fossil combined
reptilian and avian features.
For the past century and a
half, scientists have debated
whether it could fly.
It took powerful X-rays to
help researchers begin to put
together this puzzle. A team of
physicists and paleontologists
at the European Synchotron
Radiation Facility in France pro-
duced a 3D model of the crea-
ture’s bone structure using a
technique called microtomogra-
phy. The team found adaptations
strongly suggestive of powered
flight, but the anatomy indicated
wing motion must have been
weird, more similar to the but-
terfly stroke of a swimmer than
the movement of any modern
bird. This rendering shows the
most likely flight pattern.
Prepare for takeoff.
BY JONATHON KEATS
EVERYTHING
WORTH
KNOWING