Wings!


early birds

Early birds had four wings. They had wings on their legs more than 100 million years ago.

First, paleontologists spread the word that modern birds are actually living dinosaurs. Then came the news from China that some dinosaurs and related reptiles long ago seemed to be marvelous four-winged creatures, seemingly on standby at some runway for takeoff in flight as early birds.

Birds evolved from feathered dinosaurs. They gradually lost feathers on their feet and then their legs, and today, modern birds have wings on their arms only. Will it be possible for any living beings to fly without wings in some millions of years? Sometimes I fly in my dreams. I imagine my arms as wings.

Comments

  1. roger ivanhart says

    Does sitting in a machine with metal wings count? Or jet propulsion caused by eating excessive quantities of baked beans?
    If not, the theory of gravity without a means of utilising air pressure suggests it might never happen. Unless evolution can produce a creature with anti-gravity – and natural selection suggests that will never happen either.

  2. Lofty says

    Flying without wings, eh? I’ll suggest a species of jellyfish will evolve a method of generating hydrogen in a buoyancy bladder to the point that it can leave the water and float in great herds across the sky. Maybe the hydrogen generator is a mutated bacterium let loose by human bio engineering. Gigantism will allow parasite creatures to hitch a lift and develop unique reproductive strategies. High levels of CO2 left over from the Anthropocene era will allow photosynthesizing algae to provide food without landing for years. Intelligent cephalopods will learn how to ride and steer the beasts of the air.
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    Maybe.

  3. StevoR : Free West Papua, free Tibet, let the Chagossians return! says

    In Lunar gravity, apparently, we can fly like birds.

    If we can get to Earth’s natural satellite satellite again one day.. would be amazing to see & experience what a different gravity field can do!

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