Tuesday, February 26, 2008
In the basement of the Natural History Museum lies a 130-million-year-old fossil that could reshape popular theory about the evolution of birds’ flight.
That’s where two University researchers developed a theory about the bird, called a Microraptor, that has earned them a spot on an upcoming episode of the PBS show “NOVA.”
David Alexander, assistant professor of Biological Sciences, tests a model Microraptor. The model, based on a Microraptor fossil, supports the idea that Microraptors glided from tree to tree.
Larry Dean Martin, curator of paleontology at the Natural History Museum, and David Burnham, dinosaur preparator at the museum, cited a well-preserved Microraptor fossil from China as evidence that flight did not develop on the ground, as many paleontologists believe, but in the trees.
The “NOVA” episode, which airs on channel 11 at 7 p.m. tonight, will explore that and other theories about the Microraptor.
The Microraptor, a four-winged dinosaur-like bird, lived during the early Cretaceous period, which spanned between 145 million and 65 million years ago.
Paleontologists thought that the bird flew by gaining acceleration from running on the ground.
But based on the Microraptor’s hip joints and feather position, Martin and Burnham proposed that it was a tree-dwelling animal that flew by gliding from tree to tree.
“These animals are pretty much going to get eaten if they land on the ground,” Martin said.
In defense of the Microraptor, a reconstruction of the bird’s skeleton led Martin and Burnham to the conclusion that the Microraptor’s legs pointed outward like wings.
The animal’s hip joints, which Martin said fit the model of an animal that sprawls its legs, would have made it difficult for the Microraptor to move quickly on the ground.
Martin said that even if the Microraptor had downward-pointing legs, its feathers would have tripped it and prevented it from gaining enough ground speed to actually fly.
Despite this, Martin and Burnham said many paleontologists were still wed to the idea that the Microraptor was a terrestrial dinosaur.
Burnham said part of the misconception was because of the belief that dinosaurs were animals that moved on only two feet.
He said paleontologists continued to advocate their origin of flight theory at the expense of other evidence.
“In nature, simpler is better,” Burnham said. “Physics, anatomy, the fossil record are all being modified because they are convinced they have the right answer.”
Martin and Burnham also built a life-sized Microraptor glider. When thrown, the glider moves through the air in a way that supports the tree-dwelling theory about the nature of the Microraptor.
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The “NOVA” episode, which airs on channel 11 at 7 p.m. tonight, will explore that and other theories about the Microraptor.
Burnham said that Microraptor theory supported the idea that birds did not evolve from dinosaurs but represent their own evolutionary line. He said several prominent paleontologists, including Bob Bakker, a consultant for “Jurassic Park,” also have begun to support their idea.
Although the researchers didn’t know how much screen time they would get in the “NOVA” special, Burnham said he was optimistic.
“Just the fact that we’re in it, we win,” he said.
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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