Microraptor, a small dinosaur that lived in northeast China about 120 million years ago, had feathers on its wings, hind legs and tail. But in all likelihood, it didn’t fly like a bird. Instead ...

Microraptor must have tucked its legs vertically beneath its body, like modern birds of prey do when they pounce. Its leg flight feathers would only produce lift if the leading edge faced forward, ...

The fossil find further suggests that Microraptor, which lived 120 million years ago, may have shed only a few feathers at a time — just like modern songbirds, researchers report July 16 in ...

The team turned to Microraptor when they came across a new specimen of the tiny dinosaur, with a thorough coat of well-preserved feathers. “It’s one of the most beautiful Microraptor specimens ...

Wind Tunnel Test. In 2000, farmers in northeastern China found a fossil unlike any described before. Microraptor, a dinosaur about the size of a goose, had four fully formed wings—two on its ...

Microraptor, as its name implies, was a small dinosaur, maybe a meter long counting its tail. Based on the number of fossils we've recovered, it was about as unremarkable as a pigeon in its day ...

“It really demonstrates the generalist diet in this small feathered dinosaur,” said Hans Larsson, a paleontologist at McGill University and the study’s lead author, in an email to Gizmodo.

About 120 million years ago, the Microraptor zhaoianus ate an animal about the size of a mouse, proving dinosaurs did eat mammals. Pope Francis died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, ...

Scientists unearthed the fossil of the small and feathered microraptor zhaoianus back in 2000, but only recently did one researcher catch a "very rare discovery" — another animal inside of its ...

But while finding another Microraptor specimen is certainly exciting, the contents of its stomach are perhaps more so. The unlucky lizard actually turns out to be a new species, unlike any other ...