November 24, 2016

Eoconfuciusornis zhengi (Photo courtesy Dr. Xiaoli Wang)

An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” describes a research on a bird that lived about 130 million years ago called Eoconfuciusornis zhengi. A team of researchers from North Carolina State University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Linyi University have found in this bird’s known fossil specimen traces of keratin and melanosomes and managed to prove that these are traces of its feathers.