Feathers Predated Flight in Dinosaur-Bird Hybrid

A part-bird, part-dinosaur described in the journal Nature didn't have feathers for flying, but did possess ornamental plumage, including four tailfeathers three times longer than its pigeon-sized body.

Epidexipteryx lived during the middle-to-late Jurassic, predating the famed Archaeoptryx, and represents an alternative evolutionary pathway from dinosaurs to birds.

The discovery by the Chinese Academy of Sciences adds complexity to the presumed road from T-rex to turkey vulture because the creature looks like a mythological chimera. And that, in the words of the authors of the paper, is "bizarre".

Original article here.