IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v4y2013i1d10.1038_ncomms3489.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Aerodynamic performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor and the evolution of feathered flight

Author

Listed:
  • Gareth Dyke

    (Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus
    Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton)

  • Roeland de Kat

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton)

  • Colin Palmer

    (Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus
    School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol)

  • Jacques van der Kindere

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton)

  • Darren Naish

    (Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus)

  • Bharathram Ganapathisubramani

    (Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton
    Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton)

Abstract

Understanding the aerodynamic performance of feathered, non-avialan dinosaurs is critical to reconstructing the evolution of bird flight. Here we show that the Early Cretaceous five-winged paravian Microraptor is most stable when gliding at high-lift coefficients (low lift/drag ratios). Wind tunnel experiments and flight simulations show that sustaining a high-lift coefficient at the expense of high drag would have been the most efficient strategy for Microraptor when gliding from, and between, low elevations. Analyses also demonstrate that anatomically plausible changes in wing configuration and leg position would have made little difference to aerodynamic performance. Significant to the evolution of flight, we show that Microraptor did not require a sophisticated, ‘modern’ wing morphology to undertake effective glides. This is congruent with the fossil record and also with the hypothesis that symmetric ‘flight’ feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form lifting surfaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Gareth Dyke & Roeland de Kat & Colin Palmer & Jacques van der Kindere & Darren Naish & Bharathram Ganapathisubramani, 2013. "Aerodynamic performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor and the evolution of feathered flight," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-9, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3489
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3489
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3489
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms3489?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza & Anthony R Fiorillo & Ronald S Tykoski & Paul J McCarthy & Peter P Flaig & Dori L Contreras, 2020. "The first juvenile dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Arctic Alaska," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-30, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3489. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.