The velociraptor had a four-winged cousin that, according to the artist rendering released with news of its discovery, looks like a bizarre hybrid monster: the head of a wolf, the wings of a bird, a feathered body that would look more natural on a dog with a fresh haircut, and hind legs sprouting wings like giant razor blades. It looks ripped from a Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. But it actually walked the Earth. Or, more accurately, glided.
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According to a study published in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Annals of Carnegie Museum, scientists have identified a new species of non-avian dinosaur, Jian changmaensis, from the Lower Cretaceous Changma Basin in northwestern China. The fossil site was found accidentally back in 1981 while researchers were hunting for fish. The accidental find has yielded over 100 bird skeletons in the decades since, some even with preserved feathers and skin still attached.
Photo: illustration by Lewis LaRosa, colorized by Jão CanolaThe Size of a Barn Owl, but Far Deadlier
The discovery of this particular frightening creature began with finding a bit of its left shoulder and arm preserved in mudstone. CT scans showed that the bones belonged to a microraptorine, a subgroup of dromaeosaurs related to Velociraptor, and, if you remember Doctor Alan Grant’s raptor monologue from the beginning of Jurassic Park, is also a group of dinosaurs in the same evolutionary line that led to modern birds.
Named after a one-winged bird of Chinese mythology and the village of Changma, Jian’s upper arm bone measured just over four inches, suggesting a wingspan of roughly four feet — making it one of the largest microraptors on record. That’s about the size of a modern-day barn owl.
Its arms had wings, but also had talons that let it rip its food apart. But this thing couldn’t just up and fly like a modern bird. Think of it more like a flying squirrel, which actually glides despite what its name implies. The Jian could glide through the air, swoop down, and eviscerate its prey. This thing was small, but deadly.
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