14 DAY TRIAL // In 1995, a 14-years old fossil hunter discovered in Glacier National Park in Montana the skeleton of Bambiraptor feinbergi, a 75-million year old carnivorous bird-like dinosaur.
Bambiraptor was small, like most bird-like dinosaurs: no more than 0.3 meters (1 ft) off the ground, 0.7 meters (2.3 ft) in length, and a 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) weight.
The fossil did not possess feathers, but all its relatives, including the most primitive ones yet found, Microraptor, had long feathers on both arms and legs, thus Bambiraptor must have been feathered.
Analyzing the fossil, researchers were amazed by their discovery: Bambiraptor used opposable fingers 75 million years ago, at least 15 millions years before the most primitive primates developed opposable thumbs.
Phil Senter at Lamar State College in Orange, Texas, US, found this while assessing the possible arm movements that could have been made by Bambiraptor in an exceptionally well-preserved individual.
Senter used bone models and discovered that Bambiraptor would have been able to grip prey with both arms, or employ its long arms to bring objects to its mouth.
The biggest surprise came when he saw that this tiny dinosaur could have positioned the tips of the outer two of its three fingers together, the way a human can touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of the third finger, a feature unknown to any other dinosaur, a feature that is almost like a three-fingered hand.
The majority of the predatory dinosaurs grabbed prey with their mouths, the way birds and crocodiles do, but Bambiraptor might have picked up small prey like a frog or a small mammal with one hand, the way monkeys do.
"Sharp claws on its fingertips could impale prey from both sides and prevent it from escaping. Caterpillars would be perfect to grab between claws and drop into its mouth," said Senter.
Bambiraptor surely had long feathers on its arms, which could have interfered with the use of its hands, but maybe the hands extended beyond the feathers.
