Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx using a multiple leaping mechanism
Abstract
Archaeopteryx, the iconic 150-million-year-old basal bird, lies at the heart of the debate on the origin of avian flight. While its asymmetric wing feathers indicate some flight capability, its limited shoulder mobility and reduced feather asymmetry suggest it lacked the capacity for the single, powerful leap used by modern birds for rapid take-off. Observations of extant birds reveal that many species, including corvids, employ multiple bipedal leaps with minimal wing assistance to gradually accelerate during take-off, particularly in low-stress contexts. Given Archaeopteryx's robust hindlimbs, we hypothesized that it could have used a similar multi-leap strategy to become airborne. We therefore tested the hypothesis that Archaeopteryx could generate sufficient take-off velocity via multiple hops or leaps. To test this, we developed a biomechanical model based on experimental take-off data from living birds, adapted to Archaeopteryx's anatomy. By analysing joint moments at the hip, knee, and ankle, alongside muscle capacity, we estimated its take-off velocity. Our results demonstrate that Archaeopteryx could have achieved its minimum sustainable flight speed in as few as two to three leaps, without requiring the energetically demanding single leap of modern birds. This study provides the first quantitative support for a ground-up, multi-leap take-off mechanism in early birds, distinct from the single-leap strategy usually observed today. We propose that the modern avian take-off may have evolved from this primitive multi-leap behaviour, offering new insights into the biomechanical transition from terrestrial locomotion to powered flight.
Related
- Conservation of butterflies in France: what should we take away from the new European Red List?
- An Efficient Implicit Tau-Leaping Method for Estimating Second-Order Sensitivities of Stiff Stochastic Biochemical Systems
- LEAPING A CONSERVATION GENETICS GAP: COMBINING POPULATION GENETICS AND SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS FOR LUPINUS PERENNIS RESTORATION
- Natural killer cells take two tolls to destruct bile ducts
- How many mutations does it take to evolve a new function?
BibTeX
@article{meilak2026away,
title = {{Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx using a multiple leaping mechanism}},
author = {Erik A. Meilak and Neil J. Gostling and Colin Palmer and Pauline Provini and Markus O. Heller},
journal = {Developmental Biology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.018},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05777984v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx using a multiple leaping mechanism
AU - Erik A. Meilak
AU - Neil J. Gostling
AU - Colin Palmer
AU - Pauline Provini
AU - Markus O. Heller
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/05
JO - Developmental Biology
DO - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.018
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05777984v1
AB - Archaeopteryx, the iconic 150-million-year-old basal bird, lies at the heart of the debate on the origin of avian flight. While its asymmetric wing feathers indicate some flight capability, its limited shoulder mobility and reduced feather asymmetry suggest it lacked the capacity for the single, powerful leap used by modern birds for rapid take-off. Observations of extant birds reveal that many species, including corvids, employ multiple bipedal leaps with minimal wing assistance to gradually accelerate during take-off, particularly in low-stress contexts. Given Archaeopteryx's robust hindlimbs, we hypothesized that it could have used a similar multi-leap strategy to become airborne. We therefore tested the hypothesis that Archaeopteryx could generate sufficient take-off velocity via multiple hops or leaps. To test this, we developed a biomechanical model based on experimental take-off data from living birds, adapted to Archaeopteryx's anatomy. By analysing joint moments at the hip, knee, and ankle, alongside muscle capacity, we estimated its take-off velocity. Our results demonstrate that Archaeopteryx could have achieved its minimum sustainable flight speed in as few as two to three leaps, without requiring the energetically demanding single leap of modern birds. This study provides the first quantitative support for a ground-up, multi-leap take-off mechanism in early birds, distinct from the single-leap strategy usually observed today. We propose that the modern avian take-off may have evolved from this primitive multi-leap behaviour, offering new insights into the biomechanical transition from terrestrial locomotion to powered flight.
SN - 0012-1606
SN - 1095-564X
ER -