The curious case of how bird wrists evolved

This wrist’s twist is its link between dinosaurs and birds

Yale paleontologists are co-authors of a new study that may change our understanding of how a key wrist bone in birds evolved.

The curious case of how bird wrists evolved

Wrist evolution helped birds to conquer the air. Fossil data and analysis of a modern bird’s development reveal that this evolution preceded bird origins Wrist evolution helped birds to conquer the air. Fossil data and analysis of a modern bird’s development reveal that this evolution preceded bird origins

It’s All in the Wrist: Dinosaur Carpal Bone May Alter Scientists’ View of the Evolution of Flight

An analysis of two theropod dinosaur fossils showed they had a type of carpal bone (pisiform) in their wrists - a bone considered important to flight in birds. This discovery by a team of researchers led by James Napoli, PhD, of Stony Brook University, counters previous research that concluded theropods did not have a bird-like pisiform. Their finding, published in Nature, opens the possibility that the evolution of flight in dinosaurs was "all …