Latest news with #Archaeopteryx
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
10 birds from the time of dinosaurs and how they looked like
The article explores the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and modern birds, highlighting various bird-like creatures from the Mesozoic Era. Fossils reveal a mix of reptilian and avian traits in these early birds, showcasing the gradual development of flight. These ancient species, though now extinct, provide crucial insights into avian evolution and the origins of modern birds. When we think of dinosaurs, massive creatures like Tyrannosaurus rex or Triceratops come to mind. But what many don't realize is that modern birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs. In fact, some bird-like creatures lived alongside the giant reptiles of the Mesozoic Era. These early birds were part of an interesting evolutionary journey, gradually shifting from reptilian ancestors to the feathered friends we know today. Fossils from millions of years ago reveal that bird-like dinosaurs and early birds coexisted, with many of them showing a mix of traits, like feathers, wings, claws, and teeth. Some could glide, others may have just flapped, and most of those avian ancestors looked far more bizarre than any bird we see now. Though they're extinct, these ancient birds left behind clues that have helped scientists understand how flight evolved and how birds became what they are today. Here are 10 bird species from the age of dinosaurs Archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx lived around 150 million years ago and is often called the first true bird. It had feathered wings like modern birds but also sharp teeth, claws on its wings, and a long, bony tail, clear signs of being dinosaur ancestors. Confuciusornis Confuciusornis appeared around 125 million years ago in China. It had a beak with no teeth and long tail feathers, probably for display. Though it resembled modern birds, it still had clawed fingers and likely wasn't a strong flier. Ichthyornis Living about 90 million years ago, Ichthyornis looked a lot like today's seabirds but with one key difference that it had sharp teeth. Its strong wings and sleek body suggest it was a skilled flier, likely hunting fish by diving into waters from the air. Hesperornis Hesperornis lived in the Late Cretaceous and was more like a prehistoric penguin. It couldn't fly but was an excellent swimmer, using its strong legs and teeth-filled jaws to catch fish in the seas of ancient North America. Jeholornis Jeholornis, from around 120 million years ago, had a long, feathered tail and teeth in its beak. Though it had wings, it probably didn't fly well. It may have used its feathers more for gliding or display than for a stable flight. Rahonavis Rahonavis was a small, feathered creature from Madagascar that lived about 70 million years ago. Though it was tiny, it had strong legs and arms with claws, suggesting it may have been flexible and comfortable in trees and possibly capable of powered flight. Sapeornis Sapeornis lived about 125 million years ago and had a mix of bird and dinosaur traits. It had long wings and could glide or fly short distances. With claws on its wings and a primitive tail, it looked like a bird in making. Enantiornithes This entire group of birds survived during the Cretaceous period but went extinct with the dinosaurs. They had teeth, clawed wings, and varied in size and shape. They were widespread and successful, but no direct descendants survive today. Anchiornis Anchiornis had feathers and wings but wasn't quite a bird. It lived about 160 million years ago and had four feathered limbs both arms and legs, which could be a hint at an early stage in the evolution of flight. It likely glided more than flew. Patagopteryx Patagopteryx lived around 80 million years ago and was completely flightless. About the size of a chicken, it had strong legs for running and small wings that couldn't support flight. It's one of the earliest examples of a bird that adapted to life on the ground.
Observer
03-06-2025
- General
- Observer
This Dinosaur Had Feathers and Probably Flew Like a Chicken
In 1861, scientists discovered Archaeopteryx, a dinosaur with feathers, in 150 million-year-old limestones in Solnhofen, Germany. They didn't know it at the time, but that fossilized skeleton — and the several that followed — provided a key piece of evidence for the theory of evolution, as well as for the fact that birds were actually dinosaurs. Since then, researchers have pored over every detail of available specimens, trying to puzzle out how birds came to fly. So you might expect that such a well-studied fossil species wouldn't be capable of surprises. But in a new paper, a team led by Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, revealed previously unrecorded soft tissues and skeletal details from a new specimen, known as the Chicago Archaeopteryx. What they found also helps explain why some feathered dinosaurs got off the ground, if only for short-haul flights. Many Archaeopteryx specimens are too flattened by geology to discern important skeletal details. The latest specimen, acquired by the Field Museum in 2022, let O'Connor's team address some of the anatomical uncertainties. Unlike other specimens, the bones of the Chicago Archaeopteryx were preserved in three dimensions, allowing the researchers to better evaluate the skull's palate. That showed the earliest signs of an evolutionary trajectory toward the skulls of modern birds. In another accident of fossilization, the carcass's wings were separated from the body, leaving them 'pristinely preserved.' The team confirmed that rather than having two layers of wing feathers, Archaeopteryx actually had three. In modern birds, that third layer helps link the shorter forearm to the body to create a continuous lift surface, which allows for sustained flight. — ASHER ELBEIN / NYT
The Star
28-05-2025
- Science
- The Star
Study says new Jurassic bird fossil is 'missing link'
BEIJING: A groundbreaking fossil discovery in Zhenghe county, Fujian province, has reshaped our understanding of avian origins. Scientists identified Baminornis zhenghensis, a 150-million-year-old bird species from the late Middle Jurassic, as the oldest unambiguous Jurassic bird fossil ever found. Published in Nature earlier this year, the study by a joint team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fujian Institute of Geological Survey reveals this species as a pivotal "missing link" in bird evolution. The fossil, unearthed in Zhenghe's swampy deposits in November 2023, showcases a pygostyle — a fused tailbone central to modern birds' flight mechanics. This feature shifts a bird's center of gravity, enabling precise aerial control. Previously, such advanced traits were believed to have emerged much later. Unlike Archaeopteryx, a feathered dinosaur with a reptilian tail, Baminornis bridges the anatomical gap between dinosaurs and true birds. The Zhenghe Fauna, a lush Jurassic wetland ecosystem teeming with diverse life, offers unprecedented insights into post-dinosaur evolution. "This discovery rewrites textbooks, showing birds' dinosaurian roots and their leap from land to sky," said CAS academician Xu Xing. Researchers continue exploring Zhenghe's fossil beds, hinting that even older avian ancestors may await discovery. As science peels back layers of time, one truth remains: evolution's story is ever-unfolding. - China Daily/ANN
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘Important moment in evolution': Fossil preserves never-before-seen flight feathers in ‘first bird'
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. When a fossil preserves an animal's complete body in a death pose, seeing it is observing a snapshot in time. Several such fossils exist for Archaeopteryx — the earliest known bird — and now, a remarkable specimen that was off-limits to scientists for decades is offering previously unseen evidence about the first bird's ability to fly. Researchers have long wondered how Archaeopteryx took to the air while most of its feathered dinosaur cousins never left the ground, and some argued that Archaeopteryx was probably more of a glider than a true flier. The first fossils of this Jurassic winged wonder were found in southern Germany more than 160 years ago and are about 150 million years old; to date just 14 fossils have been discovered. But private collectors snapped up some of these rarities, isolating the fossils from scientific study and hobbling investigations into this pivotal moment in avian evolution. One such fossil was recently acquired by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History and has provided answers to the longstanding question about flight in Archaeopteryx. Researchers published a description of the pigeon-size specimen in the journal Nature on May 14, reporting that ultraviolet (UV) light and computed tomography (CT) scans had revealed soft tissues and structures never seen before in this ancient bird. The findings included feathers indicating that Archaeopteryx could achieve powered flight. While most Archaeopteryx fossil specimens 'are incomplete and crushed,' this fossil was missing just one digit and remained unflattened by time, said lead study author Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist and associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum. 'The bones are just exquisitely preserved in 3D; you really don't see that in all the other specimens,' O'Connor told CNN. 'We also have more fossilized soft tissues associated with our specimen than we've seen in any other individual.' Field Museum fossil preparators and study coauthors Akiko Shinya and Constance Van Beek worked on the specimen for more than a year. They spent hundreds of hours scanning and modeling the positions of the bones in three dimensions; chipping away shards of limestone; and using UV light to illuminate the boundaries between mineralized soft tissue and rocky matrix. Their preparation — a process that took about 1,600 hours in all, O'Connor estimated — paid off. The researchers detected the first evidence in Archaeopteryx of a group of flight feathers called tertials, which grow along the humerus between the elbow and the body and are an important component of all powered flight in modern birds. Since the 1980s, scientists have hypothesized that Archaeopteryx had tertials due to the length of its humerus, O'Connor said. But this is the first time such feathers have been found in an Archaeopteryx fossil. The surprises didn't end there. Elongated scale shapes on the toe pads hinted that Archaeopteryx spent time foraging on the ground, as modern pigeons and doves do. And bones in the roof of its mouth provided clues about the evolution of a skull feature in birds called cranial kinesis, the independent movement of skull bones relative to each other. This feature gives birds more flexibility in how they use their beaks. 'It was one 'Wow!' after another,' O'Connor said. The discovery of tertials in particular 'is an extraordinary finding because it suggests that Archaeopteryx could indeed fly,' said Dr. Susan Chapman, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Chapman, who was not involved in the research, studies bird evolution using paleontology and developmental biology. 'The preparators of the Chicago Archaeopteryx did an outstanding job of preserving not just the bone structure, but also the soft tissue impressions,' Chapman told CNN in an email. 'Because of their care, this near complete specimen provides never-before-understood insights into this transitional fossil from theropod dinosaurs to birds.' However, Archaeopteryx could probably only fly for short distances, she added. Despite having tertials, it lacked certain adaptations for powered flight seen in modern birds, such as specialized flight muscles and a breastbone extension called a keel to anchor those muscles, Chapman said. The museum acquired this Archaeopteryx specimen in 2022, and at the time, museum president and CEO Julian Siggers called it 'the Field Museum's most significant fossil acquisition since SUE the T. rex.' As a link between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and the lineage that produced all modern birds, Archaeopteryx's evolutionary importance was unquestionable. But in some ways, the museum was taking a big gamble on that particular fossil, according to O'Connor. It had been in private hands since 1990, and its condition was unknown. When it arrived at the museum, scientists weren't sure what to expect, O'Connor said. To say that the fossil exceeded their expectations would be an understatement. 'When I found out we were going to acquire an Archaeopteryx, I never in my wildest dreams thought that we were going to end up with such a spectacular specimen,' O'Connor said. 'This is one of the most important macroevolutionary transitions in Earth's life history, because this gives rise to the group of dinosaurs that not only survives the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, but then becomes the most diverse group of land vertebrates on our planet today. So this is a very, very important moment in evolution.' The significance of such specimens underscores why scientific access should be prioritized over private fossil collection, Chapman added. When fossils are sold for profit and private display rather than for study, 'their preparation is often poor, thus losing irreplaceable soft tissue structures,' she said. 'Moreover, the value of such specimens to mankind's understanding of evolution is lost for decades.' The Chicago Archaeopteryx likely preserves many other important details about bird evolution, O'Connor added. With an abundance of data already collected from the fossil and analysis still underway, its full story is yet to be told. 'There's going to be a lot more to come,' she said. 'I hope that everyone finds it as exciting as I do.' Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. She is the author of 'Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind Control' (Hopkins Press).
CNN
21-05-2025
- Science
- CNN
A rare Archaeopteryx fossil was kept from scientists for decades. Its first-ever analysis reveals how the ‘first bird' took flight
When a fossil preserves an animal's complete body in a death pose, seeing it is observing a snapshot in time. Several such fossils exist for Archaeopteryx — the earliest known bird — and now, a remarkable specimen that was off-limits to scientists for decades is offering previously unseen evidence about the first bird's ability to fly. Researchers have long wondered how Archaeopteryx took to the air while most of its feathered dinosaur cousins never left the ground, and some argued that Archaeopteryx was probably more of a glider than a true flier. The first fossils of this Jurassic winged wonder were found in southern Germany more than 160 years ago and are about 150 million years old; to date just 14 fossils have been discovered. But private collectors snapped up some of these rarities, isolating the fossils from scientific study and hobbling investigations into this pivotal moment in avian evolution. One such fossil was recently acquired by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History and has provided answers to the longstanding question about flight in Archaeopteryx. Researchers published a description of the pigeon-size specimen in the journal Nature on May 14, reporting that ultraviolet (UV) light and computed tomography (CT) scans had revealed soft tissues and structures never seen before in this ancient bird. The findings included feathers indicating that Archaeopteryx could achieve powered flight. While most Archaeopteryx fossil specimens 'are incomplete and crushed,' this fossil was missing just one digit and remained unflattened by time, said lead study author Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist and associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum. 'The bones are just exquisitely preserved in 3D; you really don't see that in all the other specimens,' O'Connor told CNN. 'We also have more fossilized soft tissues associated with our specimen than we've seen in any other individual.' Field Museum fossil preparators and study coauthors Akiko Shinya and Constance Van Beek worked on the specimen for more than a year. They spent hundreds of hours scanning and modeling the positions of the bones in three dimensions; chipping away shards of limestone; and using UV light to illuminate the boundaries between mineralized soft tissue and rocky matrix. Their preparation — a process that took about 1,600 hours in all, O'Connor estimated — paid off. The researchers detected the first evidence in Archaeopteryx of a group of flight feathers called tertials, which grow along the humerus between the elbow and the body and are an important component of all powered flight in modern birds. Since the 1980s, scientists have hypothesized that Archaeopteryx had tertials due to the length of its humerus, O'Connor said. But this is the first time such feathers have been found in an Archaeopteryx fossil. The surprises didn't end there. Elongated scale shapes on the toe pads hinted that Archaeopteryx spent time foraging on the ground, as modern pigeons and doves do. And bones in the roof of its mouth provided clues about the evolution of a skull feature in birds called cranial kinesis, the independent movement of skull bones relative to each other. This feature gives birds more flexibility in how they use their beaks. 'It was one 'Wow!' after another,' O'Connor said. The discovery of tertials in particular 'is an extraordinary finding because it suggests that Archaeopteryx could indeed fly,' said Dr. Susan Chapman, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Chapman, who was not involved in the research, studies bird evolution using paleontology and developmental biology. 'The preparators of the Chicago Archaeopteryx did an outstanding job of preserving not just the bone structure, but also the soft tissue impressions,' Chapman told CNN in an email. 'Because of their care, this near complete specimen provides never-before-understood insights into this transitional fossil from theropod dinosaurs to birds.' However, Archaeopteryx could probably only fly for short distances, she added. Despite having tertials, it lacked certain adaptations for powered flight seen in modern birds, such as specialized flight muscles and a breastbone extension called a keel to anchor those muscles, Chapman said. The museum acquired this Archaeopteryx specimen in 2022, and at the time, museum president and CEO Julian Siggers called it 'the Field Museum's most significant fossil acquisition since SUE the T. rex.' As a link between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and the lineage that produced all modern birds, Archaeopteryx's evolutionary importance was unquestionable. But in some ways, the museum was taking a big gamble on that particular fossil, according to O'Connor. It had been in private hands since 1990, and its condition was unknown. When it arrived at the museum, scientists weren't sure what to expect, O'Connor said. To say that the fossil exceeded their expectations would be an understatement. 'When I found out we were going to acquire an Archaeopteryx, I never in my wildest dreams thought that we were going to end up with such a spectacular specimen,' O'Connor said. 'This is one of the most important macroevolutionary transitions in Earth's life history, because this gives rise to the group of dinosaurs that not only survives the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, but then becomes the most diverse group of land vertebrates on our planet today. So this is a very, very important moment in evolution.' The significance of such specimens underscores why scientific access should be prioritized over private fossil collection, Chapman added. When fossils are sold for profit and private display rather than for study, 'their preparation is often poor, thus losing irreplaceable soft tissue structures,' she said. 'Moreover, the value of such specimens to mankind's understanding of evolution is lost for decades.' The Chicago Archaeopteryx likely preserves many other important details about bird evolution, O'Connor added. With an abundance of data already collected from the fossil and analysis still underway, its full story is yet to be told. 'There's going to be a lot more to come,' she said. 'I hope that everyone finds it as exciting as I do.' Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. She is the author of 'Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind Control' (Hopkins Press).
