Birds evolved from dinosaurs, and now archaeologists have a key fossil that helps explain how one dinosaur could fly.
The Chicago Archaeopteryx is a well-preserved Archaeopteryx fossil, a dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago and is considered a key link between dinosaurs and modern birds. Discovered in Germany and housed at the Field Museum in Chicago (go see the exhibit!), this specimen shows a unique combination of features: it has feathers and wings like a bird but also teeth and claws like a small dinosaur.
What makes the Chicago specimen particularly important is the quality of its preservation and the detail it reveals about early bird anatomy. In a newly published paper, researchers shared details about the advanced imaging techniques used, including CT scans and UV light, to study its bones and feathers. Their work showed that Archaeopteryx was adapted for flight with a previously unknown but crucial third layer of wing feathers, but also that it spent a lot of time walking on the ground. These findings provide strong evidence that birds evolved from small, feathered dinosaurs, making Archaeopteryx essential to understanding how it happened.