Dalingheornis
Dalingheornis was a tiny bird that lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 122 million years ago. It had special feet that helped it climb trees, making it one of the first birds to live in the trees. Its long tail had 20 bones, just like some meat-eating dinosaurs!12
When did it live?
How fast was it?
Fun facts
Dalingheornis is the first Mesozoic bird known to have heterodactyl feet, which means its toes were arranged for climbing, like a modern woodpecker.12
Its tail was unusually long for a bird, with 20 vertebrae, and it had chevron bones like those of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs.12
The only known fossil is a juvenile, so scientists think the long tail might have been a baby feature that changed as it grew up.1
Dalingheornis was named after Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut in space.1
It lived in the early Cretaceous period, about 122 million years ago, in what is now Liaoning Province, China.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think Dalingheornis had a reversed second toe claw for climbing.
Truth: Scientists are not sure if the claw was really reversed or just moved after the animal died.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Dalingheornis
- Named by
- Zhang et al. 20063
- Group
- Early birds
- Family / clade
- Euenantiornithes3
- Classification
- Theropoda > Avialae3
- Age of the rocks
- 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
- Rock formations
- Yixian3
- Countries
- China3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Dalingheornis was named in 2006 by Zhang Zihui and colleagues from a single fossil found in the Yixian Formation in China. The fossil is stored in a private collection.13
- Still debated
- Some scientists think Dalingheornis might not be a valid name because the only fossil is in a private collection and cannot be studied by everyone.1
Where the facts come from
- Dalingheornis (en.wikipedia.org)
- The First Mesozoic Heterodactyl Bird from China (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
- Dalingheornis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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