Yi qi – China, Late Jurassic (160 million years ago), described 2015 This astonishing, 60-cm long dinosaur left experts gobsmacked when it was announced in April. A single fossil reveals that its very long fingers had a membrane of skin stretched between them, and attached to its body. This gave it wings akin to … [Read more…]
New dinosaur discoveries (such as four-winged Changyuraptor) seem to come nearly every week these days, but few are this exciting. Fossils of a new species from Siberia may be some of the best evidence yet that feathers were not restricted to the carnivorous theropods but were in fact a trait shared by all groups … [Read more…]
Anzu wyliei – United States, Late Cretaceous (66 million years ago), described 2014 From the Hell Creek formation of the Dakotas, Anzu has been described by the Smithsonian Institution and Carnegie Museum scientists who found it as the ‘chicken from hell’ and a cross between an emu and a lizard. Only the second feathered … [Read more…]
In the early stages of evolving flight, feathered dinosaurs tried an interesting experiment: they developed four wings. These small dinosaurs – such as Microraptor, Anchiornis and Xiaotingia – had long flight feathers on their hind limbs as well as their fore limbs, and they had long bony tails, similarly replete with large feathers. It appears … [Read more…]