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Small, feathered dinosaurs appear to have used their wings to run at speeds previously thought impossible without flight, according to a new study by an international team of scientists, including McGill Biology Professor Hans Larsson. The , published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), sheds new light on the origins of bird flight. By demonstrating that small, feathered dinosaurs used their wings to assist in running at high speeds, the findings indicate that wing usage played a role in locomotion before true flight evolved. 听

The researchers focused on a 106-million-year-old fossil trackway in South Korea. They found that the dinosaur, about the size of a sparrow, appears to have used a 鈥渇lap-running鈥� technique to achieve remarkable speeds.听

This challenges the traditional view that flight emerged in a linear process and highlights the complexity of how birds' ancestors adapted to their environments. Additionally, the findings offer valuable information on the biomechanics of extinct species, enhancing our understanding of how animals transitioned from ground-dwelling to flight-capable creatures.听

鈥淲ith this new find, we鈥檝e demonstrated these really tiny, feathered dinosaurs were using their wings for a kind of locomotion only seen in birds today,鈥� said Larsson. 听

The study was led by Alex Dececchi at Dakota State University in the United States and Michael Pittman at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)鈥檚 School of Life Sciences, and included a team of researchers from South Korea and the U.S.听

Hans Larsson is available for media interviews on this topic. He may be reached at hans.ce.larsson [at] mcgill.ca听

For interviews in French, with McGill graduate students involved in the research, please contact the media relations officer below.听听听听听