It may not have been a champion aviator, but the famous dino-bird Archaeopteryx was fully capable of flying despite key skeletal differences from its modern cousins, though not exactly gracefully, according to a new study. Crow-sized Archaeopteryx, which lived about 150 million years ago in a tropical archipelago that is now Bavaria, combined primitive dinosaur characteristics with traits seen in modern birds. Its flight capabilities may have enabled Archaeopteryx to escape predators or fly among islandsThe researchers focused on a cross-section of the wing bones and their density of blood vessels. Archaeopteryx was likely able to take off from the ground, but must have used a unique flying style, Sanchez said. It lacked important traits in the shoulders of modern birds, making it impossible to beat its wings the way they do.

Source: CBC News March 13, 2018 21:21 UTC