A STUNNING set of six fossils discovered in China looks set to overturn our ideas about how birds first took to the sky. The fossils show a small dinosaur that had flight feathers covering its legs, as well as its tail and arms, forming an extra pair of wings never before seen by palaeontologists.
The announcement comes days after a scientist in the US published details showing that young partridges flap their wings to improve their grip on steep slopes, which may explain why wings evolved. Together, the two discoveries may represent a turning point in the contentious study of…
