14 DAY TRIAL // Accord to leading paleontologists, a new, exceptionally preserved dinosaur fossil discovered in north-eastern China represents the earliest known feathered animal at this point. Estimated to have lived about 150 million years ago, the animal was petrified in mint condition, thus providing experts with the ability to investigate some of the unique characteristics of this amazing dinosaur, the BBC News reports. The feathered creature is considerably older than the ancestor of all birds, a dinosaur known as Archaeopteryx, which was first discovered in Germany.
The find was made by Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing Professor Xu Xing and his team. In a paper published in the latest issue of the renowned scientific journal Nature, the expert reveals that the old theory that stated that birds evolved from dinosaurs was troubled by the fact that no feathers older than Archaeopteryx's had been ever found. The journal entry thus provides conclusive evidence that the evolution indeed took place, and that modern-day birds are, in fact, evolved dinosaurs. Fossils of the early feathered creature came from two separate Chinese locations, which should end all speculations.
Professor Xu says that one of the new dinosaur species found in China, named Anchiornis huxleyi, is entirely covered in feathers, from the tip of its arms to the tip of its tail, and that the feet also feature a “four-winged arrangement.” “The first specimen we discovered earlier this year was incomplete. Based on that specimen, we named it Anchiornis; and we thought it was a close relative of birds. But then we got a second specimen, which was very complete – beautifully preserved,” Xu told the news agency.
“All over the skeleton, you see feathers. Based on this second specimen, we realized that this was a much more important species, and definitely one of the most important species for our understanding of the origin of birds and of their flight,” he added. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, held in the United Kingdom, at the University of Bristol, the professor said that the finds explained an important stage in the evolution of dinosaurs to birds, especially in terms of feather arrangements.
“Drawing the tree of life, it's fairly obvious that feathers arose before Archaeopteryx appears in the fossil record. Now these fantastic new discoveries by Professor Xu Xing prove that once and for all. These new discoveries are maybe 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx,” Michael Benton, who is a renowned Bristol paleontologist, concluded.