This strange-looking creature is one of the world’s first known birds that flew above the dinosaurs around 120 million years ago.
A fossil of the creature – which was about the size of pigeon – has been dug up in Japan. Thanks to computer simulations, scientists are able to produce these images of what it may have looked like.
Named Fukuipteryx prima, its remarkably preserved bones were entombed in rocsk that date back to the Early Cretaceous. This is the period when real birds were beginning to appear. Fukuipteryx is the first primitive bird from this time found outside China.
Dr Takuya Imai, from the Institute of Dinosaur Research at Fukui Prefectural University, Japan, said this bird ‘did not fly as well as modern birds do.’
He continued: ‘It glided or flapped to fly for a short distance. It did fly, but it was not very good at it. The bird inhabited a fluvial environment. The climate was temperate. The region was warm and humid most of the time, with a short, dry season.
‘It is quite possible the bird was preyed upon. We don’t know about its diet, as we don’t have any gut contents. Its jaws were also missing.’
The earliest known Cretaceous bird fossils are two-dimensional specimens found in north-eastern China.
Dr Imai said: ‘These birds lack a pygostyle, a triangular plate found at the end of the backbone to support tail feathers, which is a fundamental feature of modern birds.’
‘It is the first species of primitive bird from this time period found outside China. The discovery of Fukuipteryx further increases the geological distribution.
‘It appears they are not restricted to a relatively cold, highland environment in the Early Cretaceous of north-eastern China.’
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