Scientists solve mystery of first bird flight

A new study suggests Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird, likely took off with two or three powerful leg-driven leaps before flapping into sustained flight, challenging the long-held idea of a single wing-powered launch. Researchers applied biomechanical models from living birds to the 150-million-year-old species, finding that its hindlimbs generated most take-off force. The study, published in Developmental Biology, proposes this multi-leap strategy as an intermediate stage in bird flight evolution.