Archaeopteryx, long considered the earliest fossil bird, could be knocked off its perch by Baminornis zhenghensis, which ...

At last there was evidence of truly primitive feathers—found on a ground-running theropod. In short, the origin of feathers may have had nothing to do with the origin of flight. Soon ...

Although the vast majority of feather discoveries have been in coelurosaurian theropods, feather-like integument has also been discovered in at least three ornithischians, suggesting that feathers may ...

A fossil from China that’s 150 million years old may be the world’s earliest known bird. The discovery shows that the short tails characteristic of modern birds evolved much earlier than ...

"Previously, the oldest record of short-tailed birds is from the Early Cretaceous. Baminornis zhenghensis is the sole ...

During the course of their evolutionary history, the body size of some theropod groups gradually decreased. This trend, together with many other changes to the skeleton, ultimately led to the ...

Four of the 90-theropod species involved in the study shown with dietary interpretations. All four species derive from the famous feathered dinosaur beds of the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation ...

What experts lacked, but hoped for, was a non-bird theropod with preserved feathers to cinch the connection. Sinosauropteryx fulfilled what paleontologists had been looking for—fossilized ...

But the creature also had wings and bore feathers -- certainly birdlike traits. Despite the increasingly clear picture of the evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs that has emerged ...

Theropod dinosaurs, which also include smaller dinosaurs ... collagen proteins preserved for millions of years. The feathers on chickens, as well as their lightweight skeletal structure and ...