Inferring aerial behavior in Mesozoic dinosaurs: Implications and uncertainties.

This article explores the ongoing debate surrounding the flight capabilities of Mesozoic dinosaurs. The authors present their quantitative analyses on whether dinosaur flight had a single origin or multiple origins, based on functional signals extracted from the flight feathers of extinct and living dinosaurs. The results suggest that theropod flight had a single origin at the base of the Pennaraptora group, which includes birds and other dinosaur clades. However, the article acknowledges the limitations of ecomorphological inference and highlights the need for better data and methods to resolve the debate. The text also discusses the challenges of studying the flight capabilities and behaviors of extinct dinosaurs and early birds, emphasizing the difficulty of accurately representing an organism's whole body in aerodynamic analyses. It concludes by suggesting that all pennaraptoran dinosaurs should be considered birds, based on the origin of flight-related features at the base of the Pennaraptora. [Extracted from the article]