The ancient birds probably started flying millions of years earlier than thought
Archeopteryx, the earliest bird known to science, did indeed have the brain of a bird, and that is not to be taken lightly. According to a new study, the brain size of the animal - which is considered a clear example of the transformation of certain reptiles, probably dinosaurs, into today's birds - is unequivocal evidence that it had the necessary data for flight. Another conclusion of the study, which was published last week in the journal "Nature", is that birds probably began to fly millions of years earlier than scientists had previously thought.
The researchers, from the Natural History Museum in London, based their findings on a first-of-its-kind study, in which an X-ray examination was performed followed by a reconstruction of the braincase and inner ear of a 147-million-year-old Archeopteryx fossil found in Germany. The skeleton, embedded in a bed of limestone, is of a creature the size of a crow.
The researchers found that in terms of size, shape and volume, the brain of Archaeopteryx was similar to that of the modern eagle or sparrow. Measurements of the semicircular canals - the balance mechanism inside the ear - revealed that Archaeopteryx had "the neurological and structural characteristics necessary for flight".
Previous studies of Archeopteryx's feathered wing and tail and its avian anatomy—including a prominent clavicle—supported the hypothesis that it was capable of flight, at least to some extent. But the research team, led by Angela Milner, a paleontologist at the British Museum, wrote that prior to the current study, "only little was known about the extent to which Archeopteryx's mind and special senses were adapted to flight." In a statement published by the museum, Milner wrote, "If aviation was already at such an advanced stage in the time of Archeopteryx, this means that there were birds that flew millions of years earlier than we thought."
