Dinosaur pen

1997/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

A Chinese peasant was surprised when he discovered a fossil that looked like a dragon. Paleontologists were also surprised, but not for the same reason. According to most fossil scholars, the chain between dinosaur animals and birds was a missing link.

The director of the Beijing Geology Museum in China, Ji Qiang, has baptized the animal as Sinosaurupteryx prima. The discovery of this small dinosaur pen half a meter in length has resulted in numerous reactions. For example, Philip Currie, representative of the Alberta Museum of Paleontology, has stated that one of the most important discoveries of the last decade is one of the most important.

The oldest bird known so far, the Archaeptorix, lived 150 million years ago. The feather dinosaur Sinosaurupteryx, meanwhile, is 120 million years old, according to the study carried out. This data confirms that birds come from the same branch of dinosaurs. In addition, the Chinese discovery rejects the hypothesis that birds were born from a group of reptiles.