Sacred Confucius's-Bird
(male)
Confuciusornis sanctus
(Hou, Zhou, Gu & Zhang, 1995)
Confuciusornis sanctus is a common bird often
seen by the riversides of early Cretaceous Asia. From their large,
communal nests, these small birds fly in searches for nuts and seeds which
they crack open with heavy, toothless beaks. Although their feet are small and
unsuited for perching, C. santus are completely at home in trees, using
their large, hooked, finger claws to climb across rough bark. Like many
other confuciusornithids, C. sanctus show a large degree of sexual
dimorphism, the males sporting twin tail feathers.
Thanks to T. Michael Keesey for his co-authorship of this painting.
Other sites containing pertinent information:
- Jeff Poling's articles
- T. Mike Keesey's Confuciusornis
page
- Susan Morgan's Confuciusornis
page
- Yale Peabody's Museum's Confuciusornis
page
- Oslo Norway's Palaeontological Museum's Confuciusornis
page
- Dinofest's photo of "The Sisters" a pair of female Confuciusornis
- Model of Confucisornis
- The Department of Geology and Paleontology's Confuciusornis
skeletons and painting
- The Rise of Birds, by Professor Sankar Chatterjee, published in
1997 by the Johns Hopkins University Press
- "Dinosaurs Take Wing" pg. 75 in the July 1998 (volume 195 No. 1)
of the National Geographic
- Picture Book of Chinese Fossil Birds , by Hou Lianhai, published
in 2000 by the Yunnan science and Technology Press.
© Daniel Bensen 2000
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This image modified by Adobe Photoshop.
