July 17, 2014

Changyuraptor yangi may have preened like a peacock, and considering its amazingly long tail and wing feathers, who could have blamed it? The dinosaur’s 12-inch (30-centimeter) tail feathers are the longest ever found on a dinosaur, according to the scientists who published a description of C. yangi‘s fossil this week. Long feathers also covered the animal’s winglike arms. Its hind limbs were so heavily feathered that they looked—and may have acted like—like a second set of wings. Although C. yangi was only about 4 feet (12 centimeters) long, it is also the largest of a number of the four-winged dinosaurs discovered in fossil-rich Liaoning province in northeastern China. Paleontologist Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles led the team that found the fossil, which dates to about 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.

C. yangi was a microraptorines, a group of predatory, feathered dinosaurs related to raptors, including Velociraptor. The microraptorines were close cousins of birds, with whom they probably shared a common ancestor. C. yangi was about 60 percent longer than the largest microraptorine found previously and weighed about 9 pounds (4 kilograms). It had razor-like teeth and claws and probably hunted fish, small mammals, and birds.

Microraptor, shown in this illustration, was a small, birdlike dinosaur with feathers on its arms and legs. World Book Illustration.

The dinosaur’s tail feathers are the “crown jewel of the specimen,” Chiappe said. They were some 5 inches (13 centimeters) longer than any found before. Chiappe believes the long tail feathers helped to slow C. yangi in flight and avoid crashing when coming in for a landing. He also argues that the long tail feathers suggest that the dinosaur could actually fly, taking off by flapping, and not just glide.

Additional World Book articles:

• Microraptor
• Paleontology (2012) (a Back in Time article)