Nearly Complete Feathered Dinosaur Found in China Shows Another Route to Flight

In short

• The skeleton is nearly complete, which makes it unusually useful for study.
• It suggests birds and microraptorines developed similar flight-related features in a different order.
• The find points to another possible path to flight.

Why the Good News Desk likes this one

Flight is one of the big turns in the history of animals, and scientists have mostly studied one route to it. A nearly complete skeleton lets researchers compare the order in which features appeared. The find adds a second possible path rather than replacing the first.

Ask this story

Answers come only from the material behind this story, with a link to the source.

For kids

Long ago, some dinosaurs had feathers. A new fossil from China has a nearly whole skeleton. Scientists think these dinosaurs may have learned to fly in a different order than birds did. What do you think a feathered dinosaur would look like flying?