Mystery Solved: Dinosaurs With Wings Forgot How to Fly, Fossil Reveals Evolution's Twist

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News18•17-12-2025, 19:48
Mystery Solved: Dinosaurs With Wings Forgot How to Fly, Fossil Reveals Evolution's Twist
- •Tel Aviv University research, led by Dr. Yuval Keet, found 160 million-year-old Anchiornis fossils in China, revealing dinosaurs with wings that couldn't fly.
- •The study, published in 'Communications Biology', challenges previous beliefs that feathers were solely for flight, showing evolution can lead to loss of abilities.
- •Key evidence came from the unsystematic molting pattern of preserved feathers in Anchiornis, unlike the symmetrical molting seen in flying birds.
- •This discovery suggests that some feathered dinosaurs, like modern ostriches or penguins, lost their flight capability due to environmental changes or other factors.
- •The research emphasizes the complex and non-linear nature of dinosaur and bird evolution, opening new avenues for fossil interpretation.
Why It Matters: 160-million-year-old fossils show some winged dinosaurs lost flight, proving evolution can reverse abilities.
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