Oldest bird-like dinosaur

Scientists in China have discovered the oldest dinosaur that had feathers. Thought to be between 1 to 11 million years older than the first known bird, the dinosaur, named Anchiornis huxley, was about 28 centimeters tall at its hip. From Science News:

Two types of feather adorn the creature, said (Xing) Xu, of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. One kind, commonly referred to as “dino-fuzz,” resembles a frayed bundle of filaments. The other type, similar in overall structure to the feathers of modern-day birds, consists of small filaments that branch from a larger shaftlike filament.

The dino-fuzz decorates the creature’s head and neck. About two dozen of the shafted feathers adorn each forelimb, and a similar number embellish each lower leg and foot, the researchers report. Unlike most feathered dinosaurs described previously, which have the longest forelimb feathers near the tip of the limb, Anchiornis’ longest forelimb feathers are on the wrist, Xu said. Feathers on the legs and feet appear to have overlapped each other, creating aerodynamic surfaces that would have, in essence, given Anchiornis a wing on each of its four limbs

"Feather-covered dinosaur fossils found"

• [Anonymous]

  I recently watched a cool Nova episode about this (or possibly a similar) guy. The Four-Winged Dinosaur.

• [arkizzle / Moderator]

  Daemon,

  No, that sounds too much like “rapture key”, and that’ll only encourage the Cretinists.
  Oops, I meant “Creationists.. I’m sure.

• [Anonymous]

  They scientists and the artist who modeled the feathered dinosaur might have saved themselves a lot of trouble by examining the feather-footed chickens alive today. The narrator of the film denies that any other feather-footed animals exist, but he is dead wrong.)
  Check these out and see if the resemblence isn’t striking:
  http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Millies/BRKMilleFleur.html

• [Jason Rizos]

  Raptor-Turkey would have been a better name.

• [Anonymous]

  Sweet. It’s awesome. Looks like a dragon. With feathers.

  So more like a chicken. But still sweet.

• [Marcelo]

  Wait, where are the intermediates between Archaeopteryx and this? What about the ones between this and a penguin?

  This new fossil is just more evidence against evolution because it creates even more gaps? Oh noes!

  Srsly though, beautiful find.

• [grimc]

  I’ve always wondered about artist conceptions of dinosaurs. Generally, how accurate do paleontologists think they are? I mean, how does anybody know that the dino had brown and white feathers? How’d the artist know that the comb was red, and not purple or blue?

• [Stewart Haddock]

  Too bad we don’t call dinosaurs ‘Cave Birds’.

• [Anonymous]

  @Grimc (#3)

  A lot of dinosaur colors are made up. Brown and green are popular because a lot of modern reptiles are brown or green. Other guesses as to light or dark pigmentation can be made based on heat regulation, but we don’t really know. Recent work has begun to shed some light on at least a small portion of dinosaur feather coloration, however:

  http://www.livescience.com/animals/080708-fossil-color.html

• [teleny]

  I think it’s kind of cute. Looks like a dancing American Indian. Can we reverse-breed them pleasepleaseplease?

• [Jerril]

  #3: Last I heard, colors are entirely speculative.

  I have fuzzy memories of one bit of skin or feather or something having turned up with enough trace elements in place that they took a stab at guessing what color it might have been, but I don’t know if that was for a dinosaur, something more recent, or if it was just a suggested course of action.

  Lacking some sort of evidence, taking a random guess based on extant birds from similar habitats and then getting creative is about the limits.

• [tomwood]

  @Marcelo #3

  Don’t be silly, fossils are just the Lard’s way of testing your faith. He obviously was drinking heavily the day he made this one and slipped it into the ground just for a giggle. Lizards with feathers…what a kidder!

• [Quezar]

  That is one heck of a freaky dinosaur. I wouldn’t want to come in contact with it unless I had a bazooka.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Quezar,

    Your link can go on your profile page, thanks.

• [grimc]

  Thanks for the responses, anon and jerril

• [Anonymous]

  @#17

  The NOVA episode was about Microraptor, a different (but related) dinosaur.

• [chrisdodds]

  A lack of transitional forms are one of key arguments against evolutionary theory. Kirk Cameron has been on the news a lot lately about just this thing. I’d say this is more evidence against his argument. Go science!

• [Jesse M.]

  For those who like nice-looking illustrations of feathered dinosaurs, I definitely recommend the book Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds. Beautiful paintings on every page.

• [Modusoperandi]

  Oh boy. Yet another thing for ancient housecats to be afraid of.

• [danlalan]

  @teleny

  I think it’s kind of cute. Looks like a dancing American Indian.

  Strangely enough, I was dancing with an American Indian just last week…and she looked nothing like this critter.

• [gATO]

  Ever wondered why reptiles taste like chicken?

• [Daemon]

  @ Jason Rizos

  How about “Rapturkey”?

• [Fett101]

  #12, it doesn’t matter how many transitional fossils are found. Creationists are going to find something wrong with evolution not matter what.