Strange Fossil Bird May Have Flown Better Than Dinosaurs

First Posted: Oct 07, 2015 02:25 PM EDT

A tiny, ancient fossil may be telling researchers a bit more about the birds that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. Scientists have found out a bit more about the intricate arrangement of muscles and ligaments that may have given birds a leg up when it came to flying.

In this latest study, the researchers studied the exceptionally preserved wing of a 125 million-year-old bird that once lived in what is now central Spain. The tiny wing of this ancient bird actually reveals a complex network of muscles that in modern birds controls the fine adjustments of the wing's main feathers, allowing birds to master the skies.

"The anatomical match between the muscle network preserved in the fossil and those that characterize the wings of living birds strongly indicates that some of the earliest birds were capable of aerodynamic prowess like many present day birds," said Luis Chiappe, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In fact, it's very likely that the ancient bird may have flown far over the heads of some dinosaurs. However, some aspects of the precise flight modes of these early fliers still remain unclear.

"The new fossil provides us with a unique glimpse into the anatomy of the wing of the birds that lived amongst some of the largest dinosaurs," said Chiappe. "Fossils such as this are allowing scientists to dissect the most intricate aspects of the early evolution of the flight of birds."

The findings reveal a bit more about these early birds. In addition, they show that while these birds were skeletally different from their modern counterparts, they still had striking similarities in their soft anatomy.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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TagsDinosaurs, Dinosaur, bird, Birds, Fossil, fossils, Extinction, Extinct, Animals, Animal Behavior