It’s Fossil Friday, so soar into the weekend with Archaeopteryx!
It’s Fossil Friday, so soar into the weekend with Archaeopteryx! When this dinosaur was first described in 1861, it caused a sensation. Discovered shortly after Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution by means of natural selection, Archaeopteryx provided an example of evolution in action—a fossil that showed the transition between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. The first Archaeopteryx fossils ever found included exquisitely preserved skeletons with clear imprints of wings and feathers, but also teeth and a bony tail. Today, scientists think Archaeopteryx wasn’t able to fly very well, but the species still represents a turning point in paleontologists’ understanding of the relationship between ancient dinosaurs and modern birds in the design of both its body and brain.