An ancient feathered biplane.When the Wright Brothers lifted off at Kitty Hawk Kitty Hawk or Kittyhawk, part of an offshore sandbar on Cape Hatteras, NE N.C., E of Albemarle Sound. Nearby is Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright brothers experimented successfully (1900–1903) with gliders and airplanes. in 1903, they flew a plane with two sets of wings, one below the other. Their feat went down in history as the first successful flight by a heavier-than-air aircraft. New evidence suggests that dinosaurs <onlyinclude> This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the superorder Dinosauria, excluding class Aves (birds, both living and those known only from fossils) and purely vernacular terms. may have beaten the Wright Brothers to the punch in coming up with a biplane biplane, aircraft, typically of early design, having two sets of wings fixed at different levels, especially in a vertical stack with the fuselage included between them. See airplane. design. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Four years ago, paleontologists described a species of dinosaur dinosaur (dī`nəsôr) [Gr., = terrible lizard], extinct land reptile of the Mesozoic era. The dinosaurs, which were egg-laying animals, ranged in length from 2 1-2 ft (91 cm) to about 127 ft (39 m). from China called Microraptor gui. These dinos were about 3 feet long and feathered feath·ered adj. 1. Covered, provided, or adorned with feathers. 2. Having feathering, as an animal's coat. 3. Moving swiftly: feathered feet. 4. . They even had feathers feathers, outgrowths of the skin, constituting the plumage of birds. Feathers grow only along certain definite tracts (pterylae), which vary in different groups of birds. on their legs and feet. The leg feathers puzzled scientists. Some researchers proposed that the dinosaurs opened their legs into a split when they flew, creating a second set of wings behind the first. None of M. gui's closest relatives, however, had hips that were flexible enough to stretch out that far. Now, two scientists have a new theory of how these creatures glided. Their model proposes that M. gui dangled its legs underneath its body while in the air. This would have created two sets of wings, one below and slightly behind the other. Biplanes that do aerobatic stunts have a similar design. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The 19-centimeter-long feathers near the bottom of the animal's legs support this theory, the scientists say. Their design would have helped keep the feathers from twisting as the dinosaur generated lift. Based on this model, the scientists say that M. gui probably could not have survived a vertical fall from a tall tree. However, computer flight simulations show that, if the animal took a strong horizontal leap from a branch, its biplane wings could have carried it to other trees at least 40 meters (130 feet) away. The technique would have made M. gui efficient in the air, but the dinosaurs were probably not very graceful grace·ful adj. Showing grace of movement, form, or proportion: "Capoeira is a graceful ballet of power and control, artists kicking and jumping in synchronized movement" Alisa Valdes. on land. They did not have strong chest muscles, suggesting that they could not take off from the ground. And with such long leg feathers, the animals probably would have tripped all over themselves while walking.--E. Sohn |
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