News Paleontology

Ancient Glider: Dinosaur took to the air in biplane style

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Looks like Mother Nature beat the Wright Brothers to the punch. About 125 million years before the two airmen lifted off at Kitty Hawk in their biplane, a 1-meter-long dinosaur was swooping from tree to tree with the same arrangement of wings, a new study suggests.

FLIGHT PLAN. The secondary wings (arrows in main image) created when Microraptor gui held its feathered legs and feet below its body would have provided flight surfaces similar to those of a modern biplane.