Sentences with phrase «allowed modern birds»

Not exact matches

He adds that the flight would have been a bit different from modern birds: Archaeopteryx's shoulder joint would not have allowed it to beat its wings in the same fashion, meaning the feathered dino must have used a specialized flapping motion.

Archaeopteryx doesn't have several features considered essential to flight in modern birds, such as a keeled breastbone to which several important flight muscles attach; a ball - and - socket arrangement that allows the wing to flap fully up over the back and down again; and a muscle pulley system that links chest and shoulder muscles, allowing the birds to swiftly alternate between powerful downstrokes and upstrokes.

Beyond the bones preserved in the fossil, the tiny wing of this ancient bird reveals details of a complex network of muscles that in modern birds controls the fine adjustments of the wing's main feathers, allowing birds to master the sky.