Abstract
The strength of the humerus bone is evaluated for 17 species of extant birds with varying mass and flight styles by measuring its section modulus. The least massive bird is Regulus calendula (0.0058 kg) while the most massive is Cygnus olor (8.959 kg), a range in mass spanning more than three orders of magnitude. The humeral section modulus is found to be approximately proportional to the mass of the bird. This relationship is used to evaluate the possible flight abilities of 19 extinct dinosaurs from Avialae, Dromaeosauridae, and Troodontidae. Though all the avialans could fly, only four dromaeosaurids (Microraptor gui, Graciliraptor lujiahunensis, Buitreraptor gonzalezorum, and Changyuraptor yangi) and one troodontid (Jianianhualong tengi) are found to have had humeri that were strong enough for bird-like flight. The humeri of the remaining dromaeosaurids and troodontids were too weak.
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