MicroraptorClick here for more Microraptor Pictures
The initial discovery and naming of Microraptor was somewhat controversial. It was initially described based on a patchwork of unrelated dinosaur fossils that had been attached to each other (a "chimeric" specimen) to produce a forgery, and this forgery had been smuggled from China to the United States. It turned out however that within the forgery were the first fossils of Microraptor (other fossils have subsequently been found). Microraptor has feathers, and is unusual as it has flight feathers on both its arms/hands and on its legs/feet (it also had feathers on its body, and a diamond-shaped group of feathers on its tail). It is not entirely clear how it used these feathers, and scientists have debated whether the animal parachuted from trees or was able to take off from groudn. What is certain, is that in flight it would have used all four wings. We do not currently know whether this is a side branch in the evolution of birds, or whether bird ancestors developed flight through an early four-winged stage (as early as 1915 some paleontologists suggested that birds may have had yet-to-be-discovered four-winged ancestor, which they named "Tetrapteryx"). Microraptor Timeline:Microraptor was a carnivore (meat-eater) that lived about 120 million years ago Related Information & ResourcesSee Also
Microraptor Facts
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