Anchiornis huxleyi dinosaurs were likely flightless, study concludes
Updated
Updated · Earth.com · May 4
Anchiornis huxleyi dinosaurs were likely flightless, study concludes
6 articles · Updated · Earth.com · May 4
Dr Yosef Kiat's Tel Aviv University team analysed nine 160-million-year-old fossils from eastern China, published in Communications Biology.
Preserved white wing feathers with black tips let researchers track molting, which appeared uneven rather than the orderly pattern seen in birds that rely on flight.
The finding suggests some feathered pennaraptoran dinosaurs may have evolved flight and later lost it, complicating long-held ideas about how wings and bird flight developed.
Could more feathered dinosaurs have lost flight after evolving it, and what might this reveal about the true origins of birds?
What other lines of evidence, beyond feathers and molting, could reshape our understanding of the dinosaur-bird evolutionary link?
A groundbreaking 2026 study led by Dr. Yosef Kiat revealed that Anchiornis huxleyi, a small dinosaur from 160 million years ago, was secondarily flightless. This conclusion was based on two key findings: its irregular, non-sequential molting pattern, similar to modern flightless birds, and its unusually thick wings with 20-28 primary feathers and extensive coverts, which made flight impossible. Environmental changes, energy conservation, and behavioral shifts likely drove this loss of flight. The discovery challenges the idea that complex feathers evolved mainly for flight, showing they first served insulation and display. This finding reshapes our understanding of how flight evolved and was lost in dinosaur ancestors.