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flight

Behavior & Physiology

6 image(s) · 3 News

Image gallery

Baminornis is the oldest known bird with a fused pygostyle, a skeletal feature that implies tail feathers. Its discovery pushed back current understanding of bird evolution and global distribution by 20 million years. Baminornis was about 15 cm in length, had many features in common with modern birds, including the capability for powered flight.
Taxa Baminornis

Baminornis is the oldest known bird with a fused pygostyle, a skeletal feature that implies tail feathers. Its discovery pushed back current understanding of bird evolution and global distribution by 20 million years. Baminornis was about 15 cm in length, had many features in common with modern birds, including the capability for powered flight.

feather flight Baminornis bird +2
Fujianvenator is an anchiornithid avialan from the Late Jurassic of China, whose discovery gave important insight to the evolution of birds. It had proportionately long legs, with the tibia twice the length of the femur. This suggests it may have been a strong runner, and possibly had a terrestrial or wading lifestyle. Fujianvenator was a small dinosaur, weighing about 640 g. As an avialan, it was almost certainly covered in feathers, though it does not seem likely to have been capable of flight.
Taxa Fujianvenator

Fujianvenator is an anchiornithid avialan from the Late Jurassic of China, whose discovery gave important insight to the evolution of birds. It had proportionately long legs, with the tibia twice the length of the femur. This suggests it may have been a strong runner, and possibly had a terrestrial or wading lifestyle. Fujianvenator was a small dinosaur, weighing about 640 g. As an avialan, it was almost certainly covered in feathers, though it does not seem likely to have been capable of flight.

feather flight China Jurassic +7
cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 03 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 03 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

humerus flight United States cast +3
cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 02 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 02 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

humerus flight United States cast +3
Cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 01 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

Cast of Quetzalcoatlus northropi humerus 01 - Pterosaurs Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs

humerus flight cast Dinosauria +2
Cast of a Scaphognathus crassirostris, a kind of pterosaur. On display as part of the exhibit "Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs" at the Cleveland Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. This animal lived about 150 million years ago. This fossil was found in the Solnhofen formation in Germany. This is a cast; the fossil itself is held by the Institute of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Bonn.
Taxa Scaphognathus

Cast of a Scaphognathus crassirostris, a kind of pterosaur. On display as part of the exhibit "Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs" at the Cleveland Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. This animal lived about 150 million years ago. This fossil was found in the Solnhofen formation in Germany. This is a cast; the fossil itself is held by the Institute of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Bonn.

flight museum Germany United States +7

News

Pterosaurs May Have Sported Far More Varied Wings than Paleontologists Imagined
Pterosaurs May Have Sported Far More Varied Wings than Paleontologists Imagined
flight fossil Pterosauria biomechanics evolution
New research from the University of Bristol suggests that pterosaurs -- the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight -- probably displayed a much wider array of wing shapes and flying styles than fossil-based reconstructions have depicted. The post Pterosaurs May Have Sported Far More Varied Wings than Paleontologists Imagined appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
30/06/2026 sci-news
Giant prehistoric insects didn’t need high oxygen after all, study finds
flight predator study
Ancient Earth once buzzed with enormous dragonfly-like insects, and scientists long thought high oxygen levels made their size possible. A new study overturns that idea, revealing insect flight muscles weren’t constrained by oxygen after all. Their breathing system has plenty of room to expand, meaning oxygen alone can’t explain their giant forms. Now, researchers are searching for new answers—like predators or physical limits of their bodies.
25/04/2026 sciencedaily-fossils
Fossil brain scans show pterosaurs evolved flight in a flash
flight fossil Pterosauria bird discovery evolution
Ancient pterosaurs may have taken to the skies far earlier and more explosively than birds, evolving flight at their very origin despite having relatively small brains. Using advanced CT imaging, scientists reconstructed the brain cavities of pterosaur fossils and their close relatives, uncovering surprising clues—such as enlarged optic lobes—that hint at a rapid leap into powered flight. Their findings contrast sharply with the slow, stepwise evolution seen in birds, whose brains expanded over
09/12/2025 sciencedaily