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Re: Microraptor biplanes?
The primary reason he illustrates the leg in
this position, for the purpose of "flapping", can be ignored if the
extended
leg (given the muscles as in birds, would this be physically possible?)
provided aerodynamic reasons to be extended, without flapping.
I'm not sure if you mean the extended leg or the flapping leg when you
ask if it would be possible. Modern birds can extend their legs
straight backwards from the knee down, but the femur will always point
forward in flight (and cannot rotate much past vertical). However,
Microraptor, to the best of my knowledge, still retained the theropod
femoral position (rather than a derived bird femoral alignment).
As for the flapping, 'twisting' in the legs is very limited in birds.
Nearly all motion is restricted to parasagittal motion.
Cheers,
--Mike Habib