The Jianianhualong tengi, a new species of a bird-like dinosaur, lived 125 million years ago.
A team of researchers in China recently found a new species of dinosaur, and it might be the oldest link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The paleontologists discovered the 125-million-year-old fossil in Lionaning, China. The ancient animal was three-feet long, covered in feathers, and sported a mouthful of teeth.
The new species has been named Jianianhualong tengi. Scientists announced its discovery in a study published on May 2 in Nature Communications.
Jianianhualong tengi is a type of troodontid, which is a family of bird-like dinosaurs related to the modern-day birds. Researchers are unsure if Jianianhualong tengi could fly. But the well-preserved fossilized remains indicate that it had feathers that were not symmetrical, or longer on one side than the other. This is a key element in the evolution of animal flight.
“Asymmetrical feathers have been associated with flight capability, but are also found in species that do not fly, and their appearance was a major event in feather evolution,” the authors write in the study.