Technology
Jurassic bird fossil suggests running mattered over flight
The Hindu BusinessLine··2d ago
Scientists described Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis, a crow-sized bird from China about 150 million years ago with undersized wings that may have favoured running. The Nature study says the species challenges the idea that early birds evolved mainly for flight. Paleontologist Min Wang said the fossil from Fujian Province resembles a roadrunner that runs more than it flies.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Museum displays and textbooks may add ground-dwelling Jurassic birds beside flying Archaeopteryx.
- Researchers studying feathered dinosaurs gain a new reference for limb proportion trade-offs.
- Fossil tourism in Fujian could highlight the site where the nearly complete skeleton was found.
What's Happening
- Yuezhuornis carried a sickle claw on its second toe like velociraptor relatives.
- It had serrated teeth and a long bony tail unlike modern birds.
- Steve Brusatte said the find shows early birds were more anatomically diverse than assumed.
Early Avian Evolution
- Archaeopteryx long held the title of oldest-known bird from Europe.
- Birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs during the Jurassic.
- Wang said the species may share an ancestor with Archaeopteryx or represent a separate experiment.
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