Although it is ready to fly, its tail feathers may or may not have been used. In order to fly, the researchers said that in 20 15 years, an abnormal specimen, a dinosaur about 3.6 feet long (1. 1 m), was found in Liaoning province, China. This area is famous for its extremely well-preserved feathered dinosaur fossils.
Scientists named Jian 'an Flower Longteng Land after Jian 'an Flower. The researchers said that the Chinese name of the China company and "Dragon" that supported the research was "Dragon". The name of this species is in memory of Fang Fangteng, curator of Xinghai Paleontology Museum in Dalian, China, who helped paleontologists obtain this specimen. [These furry dinosaurs have feathers]
J.tengi, weighing just over 5 pounds (2.4 kilograms), is a kind of theropod dinosaur similar to birds. Rex, assistant professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Hong Kong, said that although most theropods are carnivores, they may be omnivores based on the anatomical structure of teeth and the closest diet. "kdspe", "kdspe" and "kdspe" are all incredible "J. tengi" Jian 'an Flower Long Tengji's bones are well preserved, and it is an asymmetric feather of a dinosaur (Xu, Currie, Pitman et al. /20 17), and its tail feather may have already flown.
Unlike the symmetrical feathers seen by most dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period, J. Tengji's feathers are asymmetrical. Researchers say that the central axis of the blade is longer than the central axis on the other side, which is very important for flight. Steve Brussat, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh, said:
"Birds' feathers need to be asymmetrical to form wings." This is related to the physical properties of the wing shape, just as an airplane wing must be designed in a certain way.
However, asymmetric feathers have also been found in non-flying species. "It is not clear whether Cretaceous dinosaurs could fly," Pitman said.
Asymmetric feathers on the tail of Rattan Chicken (Xu, Curry, Pitman et al. /20 17) are the first time that aerodynamic feathers have been recorded in a bird-like dinosaur, Pitman said. Pitman said that the miniature raptors (a kind of dragon-tailed dragon) related to raptors also had asymmetric feathers.
Pitman told Life Science in an email, "This shows that the recent ancestors of birds (similar to dinosaurs, dinosaurs and raptors) had asymmetric feathers." Both Pitman and Brewster said,
This discovery may help paleontologists decipher the time point of asymmetric feather evolution.
"Strangely, the asymmetric feathers are at the tail," Brusett told Life Science in an email. "Does this mean that Jian 'an Hualong is flying with its tail between its legs? It's hard to be sure. [Photo: Cousin of Raptor has short arms and many feathers]
The feathers on J.tengi's arms and legs are not well preserved to show their symmetry. "So we don't know what the feathers of the whole animal will look like." Brussat said that Jian 'an Hualong may have asymmetrical tail feathers, but like most other non-bird dinosaurs, its arms and legs are symmetrical (so it is not suitable for flying). We just don't know.
A photo (a) and a laser fluorescence image (b) are health images (C images) of the tail leaves of Longtengjing. Redit:Xu, Currie, Pittman et al./2017) Brusate said that feather asymmetry may have evolved for display purposes before using features in flight. As more and more researchers try to determine which dinosaurs can fly, the study of flight history has become a hot topic. For example, the research published at the 20 16 vertebrate society paleontology conference in Salt Lake City showed that some dinosaurs, such as mini-raptors and early birds, including Archaeopteryx, might fly short distances, as previously reported in Life Science.
The new study was published online today (May 2) in The Wall Street Journal Nature News.
Original articles on life sciences.