They believe it was nocturnal, like other mammals of the time were thought to be, and like gliding mammals are today. It was the size of a flying squirrel or a bat — less than three ounces. Its stiff tail might have been longer than the trunk of its body.
The find includes not only bones, but also impressions left in rock that reveal the furry membrane the creature used for gliding. Its teeth show it ate mostly insects, researchers said. But it probably couldn't hunt insects while gliding because it was too clumsy a flier and couldn't stay airborne long enough, researchers said.
So why glide? It's hard to draw conclusions for this creature specifically, Meng said, but in general, scientists think that gliding is an energy-saving way to get from tree to tree, compared to repeatedly climbing up and down trunks. Gliding probably increased the foraging range of the creature and maybe helped it escape predators in the trees, he said.
Larry Heaney, curator of mammals at the Field Museum in Chicago who has long studied gliding mammals, said the new creature "has taken the first step" toward powered flight like a bat exhibits.
But from its anatomy, "I would say this animal probably was not very far along the path to true flight," Heaney said. "It was not on the road to the kinds of modifications we see in bats that allow them to actually fly."
Meng said it's not clear whether descendants of the creature gained the ability to fly.
