New research has revealed that the earliest mammals evolved powered flight, rather than the gliding flight seen in modern marsupials. The findings, published in the journal Nature, suggest that marsupials, such as flying squirrels, evolved their unique form of flight only after the earliest mammals had already taken to the skies.

The research team, led by scientists from the University of Bristol, studied the fossil remains of a 180 million-year-old, long-tailed, four-winged mammal called a volaticotherium. What makes this species so remarkable is that it is the oldest known mammal to have evolved powered flight. This discovery indicates that powered flight was an important adaptation for the earliest mammals, allowing them to traverse through the air more easily than their more primitive, gliding relatives.

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source: Phys.org