2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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science
dinosaurs
7721137
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# Early bird species 'could not flap wings'
## Some of the earliest species of bird would probably have been unable to
flap their wings because their feathers were too weak, new evidence suggests.
![Early bird species could not flap wings: Archaeopteryx][1]
An artist's impression of an Archaeopteryx. New evidence suggests that the
prehistoric birds would have probably not been able to flap their wings Photo:
PA
7:30AM BST 14 May 2010
Researchers believe species such as Archaeopteryx, which lived 140 million
years ago and is considered to be the first true bird, may not have been
capable of powered flight.
Fossil studies of Archaeopteryx, which experts say looked like a feathery
dinosaur with wings, show that the species had thinner shafts on its feathers
than those of modern birds.
A team led by Robert Nudds, from the University of Manchester, calculated that
the feathers would have been too feeble for flapping wings and barely strong
enough to support gliding from tree to tree.
The same was true of Confuciusornis, a later bird that lived 100 million years
ago.
The researchers wrote in the journal _Science_: ''If Archaeopteryx and
Confuciusornis were flapping fliers, they must have had a feather structure
that was fundamentally different from that of living birds."
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