- The 6ft 6in (2m) creature was almost perfectly preserved in limestone, thanks to a volcanic eruption that had buried it in north-east China. And the 125-million year-old fossil suggests many other dinosaurs, including velociraptors, would have looked like "big, fluffy killer birds". But it is unlikely that it could fly.
- The dinosaur has been named Zhenyuanlong, meaning "Zhenyuan's dragon" - in honour of the man who procured the fossil for the museum in Jinzhou, allowing it to be studied.
- Even though it is a dinosaur, it looks exactly like a turkey or a vulture It has short arms, and it is covered in feathers with proper wings with layers of quill-pen feathers. Dr Brusatte notes: "China is the epicentre of palaeontology right now. There are [museum] storerooms full of new dinosaur fossils that have never been studied before. This is the most exciting time maybe in the history of palaeontology."
Scientists Discover New Winged Dinosaur, Ancestor of Velociraptor
7. 17. 15 by Andrew Tieu