Second Confucius's-Bird
Confuciusornis dui
(Hou, Zhou, Gu & Zhang, 1996)
Confuciusornis dui, with its toothless
beak, clawed fingers, and twin tail feathers, is one of the many
confuciusornithid birds of China. Like its close relative, Confuciusornis
sanctus, C. dui has small feet and large, tapering wings. A
bird with neither tail feathers nor alulae to stabilize it in the air, C.
dui, like all its kin, must depend entirely upon these wings for
lift. Consequently, C. dui flies as no neornithian bird can,
alternately coasting on thermals and skimming through them, swooping with the
skill of a hawk between tree-limbs, then halting, spreading its wings wide to
catch the air and stretching out with taloned thumbs to snag bark. A
C. dui does not perch, but rather clings to trees like a feathered
squirrel.
C. dui's beak, unlike the heavy, nut-crushing
machinery of C. sanctus's, is turned up into a point and is built for
lighter fare. Small seeds and fruiting bodies for the bulk of this
bird's diet, while insects and other small prey make up the remainder.
Not as numerous as C. sanctus, C. dui are sill common in the
forests of early Cretaceous China.
Other sites containing pertinent information:
- T. Mike Keesey's Confuciusornis
page
- "More Feathered Wonders from Liaoning" by Tracy Lee Ford, an article on
pages 18-20 of the October/November edition of the Pre-Historic Times.
- 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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