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Jian

Say it: JEE-ahn

Name means: “one-winged bird from Chinese mythology”1

Ate: MeatRaptorsEarly Cretaceous

Jian was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived about 120 million years ago. It had long feathers on its arms and legs, like four wings, and probably glided through the air like a flying squirrel. Scientists think it hunted early birds, because its fossils were found in a place full of bird bones.2

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Changma Basin, Gansu Province, northwestern China1

Food

Meat3 2

Wingspan

1.2 m2

estimated, about the size of a barn owl

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How wide were its wings?

as long as 2.5 house cats nose to tail

How big was Jian compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Jian is one of the biggest microraptor dinosaurs ever found. Its upper arm bone is about 10 centimetres (4 inches) long.2

Jian had a very long coracoid bone in its shoulder, longer compared to its arm than in any other microraptor.1

The only fossil of Jian found so far is an arm and shoulder. No other bones have been discovered yet.1

Jian lived alongside hundreds of early birds called Gansus yumenensis. Its fossils were found in the same rock layer as many bird skeletons.1

Scientists think Jian may have been the predator that left behind crushed bird bones at the site, similar to pellets coughed up by modern owls.2

Jian probably could not fly like a bird, but it could glide using its four feathered limbs, much like a flying squirrel.2

AI-made picture of Jian — An AI-made picture of how Jian might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Jian
Named by: Zhou et al. 20263
Group: Raptors
Family / clade: Dromaeosauridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Dromaeosauridae3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)3
Rock formations: Xiagou3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Jian was named in 2026 by a team of scientists including Zhou, Lamanna, Poust, Li, You, and O'Connor. The only fossil found is an arm and shoulder from the Xiagou Formation in China.3 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Jian could truly fly or only glide, because only its arm and shoulder bones have been found.2

Where the facts come from

FIRST NON-AVIAN THEROPOD (DROMAEOSAURIDAE, MICRORAPTORINAE) FROM THE BIRD-BEARING LOWER CRETACEOUS XIAGOU FORMATION OF THE CHANGMA BASIN, GANSU PROVINCE, NORTHWESTERN CHINA (carnegiemnh.org)
New species of dinosaur, a cousin of Velociraptor, probably glided on four “wings” and hunted early birds - Field Museum (fieldmuseum.org)
Jian in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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