Lift devices in the flight of Archaeopteryx

  1. Meseguer, José 1
  2. Chiappe, Luis M 2
  3. Sanz, José L 3
  4. Ortega, Francisco 4
  5. Sanz-Andrés, Ángel 1
  6. Pérez-Grande, Isabel 1
  7. Franchini, Sebastián 1
  1. 1 Instituto Universitario Ignacio Da Riva, Universidadd Politécnica de Madrid
  2. 2 Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Country
  3. 3 Unidad de Paleontología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
  4. 4 Departamento de Físicca Matemática y de Fluidos, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
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Journal:
Spanish journal of palaeontology

ISSN: 2255-0550

Year of publication: 2012

Issue Title: SPANISH JOURNAL OF PALAEONTOLOGY

Volume: 27

Issue: 2

Pages: 125-130

Type: Article

DOI: 10.7203/SJP.27.2.18120 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Spanish journal of palaeontology

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Abstract

Archaeopteryx has played a central role in the debates on the origins of avian (and dinosaurian) flight, even though as a flier it probably represents a relatively late stage in the beginnings of flight. We report on aerodynamic tests using a life-sized model of Archaeopteryx performing in a low turbulence wind tunnel. Our results indicate that tail deflection significantly decreased take-off velocity and power consumption, and that the first manual digit could have functioned as the structural precursor of the alula. Such results demonstrate that Archaeopteryx had already evolved high-lift devices, which are functional analogues of those present in today’s birds

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Funding information

This work has been supported by funds from Spanish Ministerio de Educaci?n y Ciencia, DGICYT (project CGL2005-05614).

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Data source: Dialnet