Archaeopteryx — the primary ever chicken to inhabit the Earth — might have hopped its manner into the air, fairly than launching with the only highly effective leap trendy birds use, in accordance with a new biomechanical study printed within the journal Developmental Biology.
An illustration of Archaeopteryx. Picture credit score: Mark Witton.
Archaeopteryx lived in what’s now Germany in the course of the Jurassic interval, roughly 150 million years in the past.
Considered the first-known chicken, it possessed primitive traits like enamel and a protracted bony tail.
It additionally had restricted shoulder mobility and no breastbone, which hampered its skill to shortly attain flight pace. Precisely how it left the ground has, till now, remained a puzzle.
“Archaeopteryx is the primary actual chicken,” mentioned College of Southampton’s Dr. Neil Gostling.
“It was lined in feathers and possessed wings, but in addition retained quite a lot of distinctly dinosaur options, corresponding to a protracted bony tail, claws on separate fingers, and enamel in a beakless jaw.”
“It wasn’t a very effectively developed ‘chicken’ in comparison with these we all know at present.”
“We all know Archaeopteryx couldn’t depend on its wings to take off — with no keeled sternum, and a shoulder that couldn’t elevate the wing above the again — so we requested what its legs might contribute,” mentioned College of Southampton’s Professor Markus Heller.
“It seems that’s the place take-off is received: the legs generate the drive, and the wings take over afterwards.”
For the examine, the researchers constructed an in depth musculoskeletal pc mannequin of the 150-million-year-old creature’s hindlimbs, scaling information from dwelling birds to Archaeopteryx’s anatomy.
They suspected the animal’s wings couldn’t have generated the forceful stroke trendy birds depend on for takeoff.
As an alternative, the examine factors to Archaeopteryx’s unusually sturdy legs, which made up roughly 13% of its physique mass, in contrast with 9-10% in dwelling birds.
The scientists calculated {that a} single leap might have propelled the animal to about 3 m/sec, effectively in need of the roughly 7 m/sec wanted for sustained flight.
Nonetheless, the mannequin confirmed that two or three successive leaps, probably mixed with modest wing flapping in between, might have closed the hole.
In a single situation, three unassisted jumps constructed up sufficient ahead momentum that solely a short remaining flap was wanted to succeed in flying pace. In one other, two leaps separated by a wing downstroke achieved the identical end result even sooner.
An illustration of how Archaeopteryx might have taken off. Picture credit score: Science Graphic Design.
The findings assist a ground-up origin of powered flight, wherein early birds steadily constructed up pace by means of repeated leaps — a technique nonetheless noticed in some ground-dwelling birds at present, together with crows and magpies — fairly than the abrupt, high-force takeoff seen in most trendy species.
This incremental habits might symbolize an evolutionary stepping stone towards the takeoff mechanics birds use now.
“Our findings present {that a} mid-sized, 400-gram Archaeopteryx might have achieved a sustainable flight pace of seven m/sec with three bipedal leaps, or with two bipedal leaps with a downward flap between jumps,” mentioned Dr. Erik Meilak, a researcher on the College of Southampton.
“All birds push with their legs once they take-off,” Dr. Gostling mentioned.
“In reality as much as 90% of the drive required to get off the bottom comes from the legs after which the wings take over.”
“Archaeopteryx would have both taken off with a leap, leap, leap after which a lot of flapping, or a leap, a flap, one other leap and extra flapping.”
“Though at present’s birds can take-off with only one leap, we nonetheless see many, corresponding to crows, magpies and seagulls, additionally utilizing the a number of hop method.”
“They use one leap if startled, careworn or threatened, or — like their ancestors — two or three or extra if they’re saving power.”
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Erik A. Meilak et al. 2026. Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx utilizing a a number of leaping mechanism. Developmental Biology 539: 57-64; doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.018
