It was revealed that this dinosaur used wings to run fast

Jakarta –

In a time when giant dinosaurs ruled the earth, imagine a small creature the size of a sparrow, running at incredible speed through a garden of prehistoric plants. Not only are his legs flexible, but his feathery wings also flap, helping him sprint like a super runner from the past!

This is Dromaeosauriformipes rarus, a small raptor whose fossil remains are 100 million years old found in South Korea. This discovery rocked the world of paleontology, uncovering secrets about the evolution of dinosaur flight.

Dromaeosauriformipesrarus was a “dinky” raptor the size of the modern moon, according to scientists from the University of Maryland in the US. It is almost 100 million years old (Cretaceous period) and was found on a stone slab in South Korea. However, what confuses researchers are the fossil footprints that show the dinosaur had large steps.

“These tracks are a puzzle because their footprints are so small but they are so far away,” said paleontologist Thomas Holtz, who was part of the team that made the discovery.

A study led by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Dakota State University found that Dromaeosauriformipes rarus, a small dinosaur related to birds, didn’t just run on land. Instead, he uses his furry arms to shake and lift, allowing him to move faster than he could with his legs alone.

This “flap run” move is a combination of running and flying. This created enough lift for short bursts, which allowed the dinosaur to climb trees, but not a full flight. Although microraptorines are relatives of Velociraptor and modern birds, it is still unclear whether D. rarus could fly for long periods of time.

This research shows that flapping is not unique to birds, providing new insight into the origins of flight and similar movements in prehistoric animals.

“We can now move past the debate over whether pre-avian dinosaurs used their arms to help them move before the development of flight, and begin to discover details that missing such as which species had these abilities and when and to what extent they developed,” said Dr. Michael Pittman, a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“Our results indicate that Dromaeosauriformipes rarus would have had to run at a speed of about 10.5 m per second (23.5 mph) to make a path using only the strength of its hind legs,” said Dakota State University paleontologist Dr. Alex Dececchi

“The relative speed that our tracks show is greater than that of any living animal, including buntas and cheetahs.”

At first researchers thought that the fossilized footprints might have been made by a dinosaur with long legs and resembling a “Dr. Seuss character”. They also tested the theory that the animal could be “very fast”.

After considering the height of the dinosaur’s hips, they estimated that the speed needed to achieve a long distance would have been around 10.5 meters per second.

“The relative speed that the footprints show is higher than the speed of any living animal, including buntas and cheetahs,” said Dececchi.

They concluded that the track was made at lower speeds by the dinosaur extending its length by using the force created by flapping its feathered arms.

Unique footprints, scientists say, were left “in the middle” of dinosaurs taking off or landing.

“So the origin of flight may not be just a poem of “can or can’t”, but a spectrum,” the study said.

The results of this research were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

(African/African)