Dinosaur pen

2001/04/26 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The spectacular top image is from a duck-sized dinosaur. It is 130 million years old and was discovered a year ago in northeastern China. The fossil was trapped in a rock and found almost entirely, but the conservation status of the fossil has been more impacted by the possible presence of feathers in the being. The paleontologist of the American Museum of Natural Sciences, Mark Norrel, points out that the dinosaur has small filaments around the head and shoulder, and that, if we look closely, the same characteristics as the feathers can be distinguished, especially in the filaments located on the back of the arms. But unlike pterodactile, it does not seem that it had the ability to fly, since the feather had the body tempered. According to Norell, this fossil may be the closest relative of dinosaurs and birds that were not birds, at least known so far. But other paleontologists disagree. These filaments argue that they can be anything, algae, hairs and many other things.