Re: Sinornithosaurus millenii in NATURE

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/16/99 8:48:55 AM EST, jhecht@world.std.com writes:

<< The discovery
 bolsters the case that the first birds took off from the ground, evolving
 from fast-running two-legged predatory dinosaurs called theropods. >>

Not if Sinornithosaurus represents an early stage in the evolution of 
secondary flightlessness in dromaeosaurids. BCF predicts that >earlier< 
dromaeosaurids will be >more< flightworthy (and smaller) than later 
dromaeosaurids. So far, so good.