Fossils Suggest Dinosaur First To Employ Concept
Who -- or what -- invented the biplane? Don't answer just yet...
as it turns out, some feathered, tree-dwelling dinosaurs may have
been the first to employ two sets of wings, way before the Wright
Brothers took a stab at the idea.
The Daily Telegraph reports scientists have found fossils in
China that show evidence of a flying dinosaur, dubbed Microraptor
gui, that lived 125 million years ago... and sported a set of upper
and lower wings.
Paleontologists differ on their opinions of how creatures like
the Microraptor gui used their wings. Many say such creatures used
their wings to glide from treetops, using a technique known as
"phugoid gliding" -- where a creature dives to build speed, before
swooping back up to another perch.
Other scientists maintain ground-based bipeds evolved into
creatures that could take flight, in order to scale trees or
hills... a method Texas Tech University professor Sankar
Chatterjee, and retired aeronautical engineer R Jack Templin, say
would not be possible for Microraptor gui, based on the
simulation.
The creatively-named dinosaur (is it just us, or does
Microraptor gui sound like the latest toy craze to come out of
Japan? -- Ed.) was previously though to carry its second set
of wings directly behind the first, similar to a dragonfly.
The simulation now indicates it's more likely the second,
smaller set of wings were attached to the creature's hind legs, and
set farther back from the primary wings. (That, technically, would
make the animal a sesquiplane.)
In any case, it appears the fossils prove once again that
mankind often takes its best ideas from nature.
"Aircraft designers have mimicked many of nature's flight
inventions, usually inadvertently," said the men's study, published
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It
seems likely that Microraptor invented the biplane 125 million
years before the Wrights."
The scientists say Microraptor gui weighed about 21 lbs, was
approximately 30 inches in length, and belonged to the same family
of feathered dinosaurs that includes the earliest-known bird,
Archaeopteryx.
Over time, they say, Microraptor gui evolved with larger and
more specialized feathers, to give the dinosaur greater lift and
more speed.
(First photo courtesy Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences)