I found a dinosaur fossil with four wings, "I was very surprised, I have not seen anything like this"

A dinosaur, which seems to have been flying over the sky with four wings to match the hands and feet from the stratum of 125 million years ago in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, using the long tailChangyuraptor Yangi(Changyu Raptor Yang Yi) "fossil was discovered. This has a structure resembling the features of current birds and attracts attention as a cornerstone to support the theory that "birds have evolved from dinosaurs" that have been cast from the past.

A new raptorial dinosaur with exceptionally long feathering providing insights into dromaeosaurid flight performance: Nature Communications: Nature Publishing Group
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140715/ncomms5382/full/ncomms5382.html

Four-winged flying dinosaur unearthed in China | Science | theguardian.com
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/15/largest-four-winged-dinosaur-changyuraptor-yangi

Dr. Luis Chiappe, a paleontologist who says that he first discovered this fossil, "I was very surprised, I have never seen anything like this," Dr. Luis Chiappe said about its characteristics "Fossils are characteristic of birds It was clearly left that there were feathers, and we had sharp teeth, sharp claws, and long tails, which are characteristic of birds of prey. " As the fact that the name "Changyuraptor" is named in Chinese and "Chang Yu" meaning "long feathers" indicates that this individual has a long tail for the body, as well as four before and after It was revealed that the limbs also had wings.


From the fossil found, it is thought that the flight performance of Changyuraptor Yangi was not so high. Since the body length estimated from fossils is 4 feet (about 1.2 meters) and the body weight is 9 pounds (about 4.1 kg), it has a body belonging to large size in birds, therefore generally the flight speed tends to be faster, It contains a great danger especially when landing.

The investigation team believes that the long tail of Changyuraptor Yangi had a major role in its flight. Professor Chiappe said about the role, "As long as the wings of the airplane, the long wings determine the direction of travel by capturing the air, especially when landing the long wing slows down the speed and landing, the landing It is thought that it was creating a posture of "nose-raising" suitable for the situation. "

Liaoning Province located in the northeastern part of China where fossils were discovered is known to exist "Therma River Biota", where numerous fossils are found in good condition. This is an area where many organisms are instantly swallowed by fire pyroclastic flow generated by volcanic eruptions like happened in Italy's Pompeii and are "preserved" as it is in the ground, a dinosaur in one area It is also one of the features that fossils of a wide variety of living organisms such as sorts, mammals, early birds are found. Due to weak oxygen and bacteria in this formation, decomposition of body tissues is suppressed, and delicate organs such as feathers and organs are preserved under more original conditions.


However, the research team says that the remains of a mystery are the existence and work of "rear wing" where evidence remains in the back legs. The fossil seems to be difficult to confirm in detail because the legs are overlapped, and the research team has said "It probably played a major role in flight," but the effect is unknown.

This discovery is a valuable case where you can catch a glimpse of a part of the evolution process of living things into a flyable body and it has been revealed that dinosaurs with big bodies could also fly through the sky. Dr. Chiappe said, "Although it is a small category as a dinosaur, it turned out to be a creature belonging to a large size as a creature flying in the sky, in the future more flying creatures will be discovered "I tell you.