Animals

Air Sacs in Bones Could Be Key to Evolution of Flight

posted: 13 May 2009 06:00 pm ET

Feathers, wings and bones with air sacs in them are among the features found in common among some of the birds and reptiles that have been capable of powered flight through evolutionary time.

But some feathered animals don't fly (e.g. penguins), or they only glide, and it's unclear if all those dino-birds flew or had feathers. The fossil evidence is far from "all in." And paleontologists and biologists have lacked consensus on the evolution of flight.

New research reported at PlanetEarth online shows that air sacs may be key. They go back much further in evolutionary time than previously thought — into the Triassic — among two species of pterosaurs (these are flying reptiles, not dinosaurs) analyzed by the researchers.

Read full story at PlanetEarth online

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