China discovers world's oldest fossil of a bird

BEIJING (UPI): A farmer who thought he found a dragon in northeastern China unearthed instead the world's oldest fossil of a bird, ending decades of speculation about how the species evolved, researchers announced Thursday.

Ji Qiang, head of the Chinese Geology Museum and a leading ornithologist, said the fossil, Sinosauropteryx Prima, was discovered by Li Yumin in rural Liaoning Province.

"Li found the fossil while excavating a site known to contain other bird-like creatures," Ji said. "He brought it to us, thinking it was the world's first dragon, and asked us to confirm the finding."

Upon examining the fossil in Beijing, Ji said he recognized the find was an extraordinary development in the global race to discover the oldest evolutionary predecessor to the modern-day bird.

"Once I saw the fossil, I realized I had finally found what I was looking for," he said.

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Ji, who has spent his professional life studying the evolutionary history of birds, noted the fossil dated back more than 200 million years and showed a direct link with other, more evolved species, found at the same site.

Although it resembles a land-based dinosaur more than a bird, Ji said Sinosauropteryx Prima boasts a number of distinctive qualities which prove the evolutionary link.

"Its teeth are sharper and thicker than those on more advanced birds and it has no breast bone, but the forelegs show a definite tendency to developing towards wings."

The determining factor, however, was the discovery of feather- like imprints in the fossilized limestone.

"Without the indication of primitive feathers, it would have been hard to say for certain whether the animal was a bird or just a small dinosaur."

In establishing how birds evolve, Ji said researchers look for a number of telltale signs, including development of a beak, large breast bones and feathers.

The breakthrough discovery was announced in the official China Daily in addition to a striking picture of the fossil.

Ornithologists believe birds evolved from reptile-like dinosaurs sometime during the Triassic period, more than 250 million years ago. Amphibian scales evolved into feathers and powerful forelegs developed into wings.

The evolutionary process was complete some 88 million years ago, when the first modern-day bird appeared.

But despite its feathers, primitive wings and other bird-like features, the Sinosauropteryx was not able to fly, Ji said.

"It could only run with the support of its hind legs, just like an ostrich does."

Before Sinosauropteryx was identified, experts believed the oldest relative to the bird was Archaeopteryx lithographic, discovered by German archeologists in Bavaria in 1861.

The Archaeopteryx dated to the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago, and showed how the species earliest ancestors developed feathers and the capability for extended flight.

But the discovery of Sinosauropteryx in August holds to prospect of helping Resolve questions about how earth-hugging reptiles evolved wings and took the to sky.

Ji plans to continue excavations at the fertile site in hopes of establishing the world's only complete fossil record of bird evolution.

"We even expect eventually to discover the fossil of the small dinosaur from which Sinosauropteryx evolved."