Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

New contender for first bird

Nature (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Feathered creature shakes up avian family tree.

A Jurassic fossil that had been languishing in the archives of a Chinese museum may qualify as the first known bird, researchers say. If they are right, it could mean that flight evolved in dinosaurs only once, in the lineage that led to modern birds.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Godefroit, P. et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12168 (2013).

  2. Xu, X., You, H. & Han, F. Nature 475, 465-470 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Chris Woolston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Early birds flew on four wings 2013-Mar-14

China's dinosaur hunter: The ground breaker 2012-Sep-05

Rise of the feathered dinosaurs 2012-Jul-02

Archaeopteryx no longer first bird 2011-Jul-27

Earliest feathered dinosaur discovered 2009-Mar-18

Related external links

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Woolston, C. New contender for first bird. Nature (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.13088

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.13088

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing