Four-winged dinosaurs, bird ancestors?

2003/01/23 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Eboluzioa
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

Fossils found in China have raised the debate about the origin of birds, feathers and the ability to fly. These fossils have been found in the Liaoning region, northeast of China, and have bird-like structures in the anterior and posterior extremities. Scientists believe they belong to a previously unknown species and call Microraptor gui.

According to the researchers, these animals are 124-145 million years ago. Apparently they lived in the trees and used those two pairs of wings to plan from branch to branch.

They believe that this discovery favors the theory that bird ancestors belonged to a group of missing reptiles. But it is not yet clear that these ancestors lived on trees or on the ground and evolved from the ability to plan or scale the ability to fly. Recently, other researchers suggested that the ability to fly was the result of climbing efforts. For this they were based on the study of another

fossil, so it seems that the origin of birds and the ability to fly will remain a mystery.