Re: A New Hypothesis for the Origin of Flight?

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Pardon my sceptism, but wouldn't this just result in a big red spot on the
> Liaoning ground?

Not necessarily, if it has jumped off first and waves its arms only when it
already is in mid-air :-)

> And second, not all supposed arboreal dinosaurs had extremely elongated
> tails, for instance, Archaeopteryx does not have an elongated tail. Should
> we conclude than that it was a ground-living bird?

Yes! Yes! Yes! (Though for other reasons.) :-)

> The feathers tell another
> tale, since they are assymetrical like modern flying birds.

Nope. They're less asymmetrical than those of any measured flying bird. And
in any case that doesn't say anything about arboreality.

> There is another
> example of a supposed arboreal dinosaur who does not show the elongated
> tail, but I am not allowed to say much more... Bwahahahaha! >:)

Oooooh yeah. That tail is impressively short, and the animal is certainly
arboreal. Hnghnghnghnghnnng... hmhmm... <vowel-less giggling>