[xoxoxoBruce]

Say what? Anchiornis, you know, Anchiornis the four winged dinosaur.

A research team led by Michael Pitman from the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, used an exciting new technique called laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) to reveal the delicate contours of soft tissue around the fossilized bones of a dinosaur called Anchiornis. The new study, published today in Nature, is the first to show a highly accurate body outline of a feathered dinosaur, offering an unprecedented look at this 160 million-year-old creature. Incredibly, Anchiornis exhibited many traits of modern birds, pushing back the emergence of important bird-like features to the Late Jurassic.

The researchers chose to apply LSF on Anchiornis as it’s one of only a few early examples of bird-like dinosaurs in the fossil record, a list that includes Microraptor and Archaeopteryx. The study of these early feathered, winged dinos, with their unique body shapes, feathering, and apparent aerodynamics—have contributed greatly to our understanding of the origin of birds and early flight evolution. Anchiornis is also a good species for study owing to the rich paleontological record. There are at least 229 known specimens, significantly improving the researchers’ chance of discovering traces of soft tissue preservation in the samples.

It’s not clear if Anchiornis could actually fly, but given these physical features, it might have been capable of making considerable leaps and engaging in gliding behavior. But, as the researchers point out, more work is needed to determine if Anchiornis could actually leave the ground or jump off a tree or cliff in any meaningful way. “The wings of Anchiornis are reminiscent of the wings of some living gliding and soaring birds, but detailed investigation, specifically quantitative biomechanical modelling that can constrain how this animal could have moved, is required to robustly test whether Anchiornis could have glided, soared or even moved through the air at all,” said Pitman. “At the moment we don’t have all the data we need to strongly support any of these capabilities.”

Having all the equipment, it’s definitely a link between a four legged ground dweller and a true bird, even if it couldn’t fly.
But of course we all know it couldn't be more than 7,000 years old.

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