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First Flying Dinosaurs Had Biplane Structure
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:40 AM
from the made-little-whirring-noises-to-keep-going dept.
from the made-little-whirring-noises-to-keep-going dept.
unchiujar writes to mention a BBC article about the design of the first flying dinosaurs. These possible early ancestors of avians apparently resembled biplanes in many ways, with legs hanging down in a fashion similar to WWI fighters. The researchers who made this discovery use this to argue the 'trees down' model of flight evolution, but the article points out this design may possibly be a failed evolutionary experiment. From the article: "Dr Chatterjee, from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, US, explained that two lines of evidence had led the team to this conclusion. Firstly, the researchers argue, dinosaurs and birds move their legs in a vertical plane, not sideways as the tandem flight pattern requires. Secondly, the feathers on Microraptor's hind legs are asymmetrical; one of the two vanes that extend either side of the shaft is narrower than the other. Aerodynamically, the narrow leading edge of these feathers should face forward in flight, against the direction of airflow. This would have given the flying reptiles lift. "
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Uryugen writes "A new dinosaur species was a plant-eater with yard-long horns over its eyebrows, suggesting an evolutionary middle step between older dinosaurs with even larger horns and the small-horned creatures that followed, experts said.
The dinosaur's horns, thick as a human arm, are like those of triceratops — which came 10 million years later. However, this animal belonged to a subfamily that usually had bony nubbins a few inches long above their eyes"
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Intersting theory... (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if it might be better diagrammed with the bird using its legs in an "A" framed sort of way. Much like the V shaped stabilizers of the F117, only inverted. This would provide some lift, and stability in flight....
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"This contrasts with earlier reconstructions showing the dinosaur maintaining its wings in a tandem pattern, a bit like a dragonfly."
The idea, that the hind legs of Microraptor gui would have been spread is old, and makes less sense than this new hypothesis. To have two wings in row would be useless because of the turbulence created by the front wings. And anatomy is a very legitimate branch of science: from a skeleton, even from a fossil one when it's as well preserved as this one, you can see qui
Samuel Jackson would be t3h p1ss3d (Score:5, Funny)
But he's kind of a crank. (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I know several vertebrate paleontologists
Don't all paleontologists have vertebraes?
I'm sorry.
Article's a dupe (Score:2, Informative)
Ancient Reptile Had Wings Like a Fighter Jet [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:2)
From the first post:
From this (new) post:
Way to be able to tell the difference between a fighter jet [wikipedia.org] and a biplane [wikipedia.org]. I know this is slashdot and all, but you could at least read the summary.
Ha (Score:2, Funny)
Design flaw was the wings dropped off when it got a fright - which was when it first leapt from the trees. Ouch! Evolution pulls a nasty one!
They died of (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What I want to know (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Not designed properly (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm confused. Are you espousing ID/evolutionary creationism, or are you saying we were all created by the Greys?
And if we were created by Greys, what would they have left to learn with anal probes?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Pterosaurs preceeding flying dinosaurs by 75 million years. Pterosaurs were single winged and enormously successful.
Modern birds evolved from the first flying dinosaurs, not from Pterosaurs, although Pterosaurs and dinosaurs had a common ancestor.
There are 4 independant times flight evolved: Insects, pterosaurs, birds, and mammals. 4 different wing structures developed, and in the latter 3 cases, 3 different bone arrangments to suppor
Re:Not designed properly (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Not designed properly (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not like the bunch of quacks that drummed up the "intelligent design" theory invented the word "design." Using it doesn't make anyone religious.
Parent
And in fact... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Not designed properly (Score:4, Funny)
See, the bible really can be used as a care repair guide.
Parent
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Assume for a moment that feather like structures were already in nature. (Think hair or quills like porcupine)
Now, if you lived in the trees, like squirrels, it might be advantages to stay in the trees and avoid predators that walk along the ground. So to find food, you either climbed down quickly, and run to the next tree -or- you jump from tree to tree.
If you had feathers you could probably jump further, meaning you
Re:Is it me or is dinosaur discovery actually dead (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like a personal problem.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not hardly. A biplane has no more lift-generating capability than a monoplane of the same total area...in fact less, because of interference between the two wings. The primary reason for a biplane is that by adding a few struts and wires, you can easily make a lightweight structure strong enough to carry heavy loads -- and you can do it with simple manufacturing techniques.
A secondary advantage is that a
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
EVERY population is "transitionary." Evolution occurs in populations, not individuals. Successful genes propagate through populations and unsuccessful ones are weeded out. Over time that genetic drift combined with division into subpopulations produces sufficient variances that we then see them in the fossil record as distinct. Fossil remains are rare, so what we have is a spa