Dromaeosaurs on air (again)

I’ve previously written extensively about the flight capacities of dromaeosaurs. I also posited on the role of hindwings in early paravians. Recently, a study seems to have vindicated me in some areas and forced me to reconsider.

This study showcases the trackways of what might possibly be a microraptorine, which are widely spaced. If taken to be normal footprints, it would indicate a land speed superior to that of cheetahs. So the people behind this paper proposed a more logical solution: that the trackways were made by an animal occasionally taking flight and landing, like wing assisted jumps.

This solidifies aerial behaviour in some non-bird theropods as well as indicate that the microraptorines not only could take off from the ground but that their hindwings likely contributed to this wing-assisted means of running.

As always, new discoveries show that dinosaur flight predates birds and that it was present in a variety of behaviours with no clear modern analogue.