Who found it? A group of Chinese scientists. They found a new animal species in the north of the country. It has the body of a bird and the skull of a dinosaur. The creature lived about 120 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. It would be the link between birds and dinosaurs.
This could explain how the evolutionary process unfolded. At the moment, researchers believe that birds are descended from a certain group of dinosaurs. Although for now there is no consensus on how exactly the evolutionary process unfolded. The discovery of the dinosaur-bird hybrid could shed light on this mystery. It was given the name Cratonavis zhui.
Mixed species
The species represents a mixture of two species. The Archaeopteryxa lizard-like creature that closely resembles a predatory dinosaur. And the Ornithothoraceswhich already includes birds in the general sense. This is explained by scientists led by Chinese Academy of Sciences paleontologist Zhou Zhonghe.
They performed a CT scan of the skull of Cratonavis. The scientists found that its morphology was almost identical to a predatory dinosaur like Tyrannosaurus.
“We tracked primitive cranial features. Most birds like Cratonavis could not move the upper beak independently of the brain. Nor the lower jaw, which is a functional innovation widely distributed among birds today. It contributes to their enormous ecological diversity,” says paleontologist Zhiheng Li.
Taking flight
In terms of body structure, the Cratonavis was not very different from the modern sparrow. They analyzed the structure of the very long scapula. It could fly and the hind limbs were adapted to grasp prey with their claws. They could sit on branches instead of moving along the ground, the researchers note.
How did the link between birds and dinosaurs emerge? This mixing of traits was dictated by various environmental stimuli. It was during the period when biodiversity was actively developing. The discovery helps to understand the evolutionary process of the ancestors of modern birds.
