Model by Brian Cooley
Photograph by O.
Louis Mazzatenta |
Dinosaurs live! Or so argue
some scientists. The long-lost creatures are still with us—as birds.
That theory got a boost from 1996 finds in northeastern China.
Sinosauropteryx prima was a 120-million year-old chicken-size
dinosaur with sharp teeth, stout legs, a bony tail, and more:
Filaments edging the creature’s back may be what remain of
protofeathers. And Caudipteryx zoui (left) had actual
plumage, complete with a spray of tail feathers.
LEARN MORE:
Read paleontologist
Ji Qiang’s interview in our press
event coverage. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine covered the finds in July
1998. |
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In an
interview with nationalgeographic.com, paleontologist Ji
Qiang, director of the National Geological Museum in Beijing,
said he was “very excited” when a fossil dealer brought him
the first of the finds. “I had never seen a creature like
this.” The discoveries, he argued, provide “the first real
evidence that dinosaurs gave rise to birds.” |
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