Overview
- The peer-reviewed study published in August 2026 by researchers at the University of Southampton and collaborators in Paris concludes Archaeopteryx launched by successive leg-powered hops rather than a single wing-driven leap.
- Model results indicate a mid-sized, roughly 400 gram Archaeopteryx could reach a sustainable flight speed of about 7 metres per second after two or three bipedal hops.
- Researchers say key anatomical limits — no keeled breastbone to anchor strong chest muscles and restricted shoulder mobility — made a one-jump, wing-dominant launch mechanically unlikely.
- The team ran detailed biomechanical simulations and compared hip, knee and ankle kinematics with living birds such as gulls, magpies, crows and finches to estimate forces and feasible launch sequences.
- Beyond solving a long-standing puzzle about take-off mechanics, the finding offers a testable ground-up pathway for the origin of powered flight and could change how paleontologists and educators model early avian evolution.