Feathered, downy dinosaur found

A dinosaur that would have been covered with feathers has been discovered in China, adding to evidence that supports the theory that birds evolved from ancient reptiles. It is thought that the plant-eating dinosaur would have used the feathers to attract a mate.

Two types of feather were found on the animal’s remains, and one that would have been used to signal to other creatures is the most primitive form yet seen in a dinosaur...

The discovery of the elongated broad filamentous feathers has excited palaeontologists, who believed that such coverings existed but had never seen them...

The second type of feather found on the fossilised dinosaur, which would have grown up to three metres (10ft) long, was a more advanced type and is thought to have been used for insulation. Feathers from the animal were clearly visible on the fossilised remains of half a skeleton, including the head, neck and part of the tail. Those that were used for communication grew most densely on the back of the neck and at the end of the creature’s tail.

Professor Xing Xu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said that Beipiaosaurus would have been unable to fly but that other types of dinosaur in the region, such as Microraptor, would have been able to take to the air...

In their report the scientists concluded that the discovery of primitive feathers “strongly supports the hypothesis that feathers evolved and initially diversified in nonavian theropods before the origin of birds and the evolution of flight."