

World’s largest four-winged dinosaur discovered - tokenadult
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/16/worlds-largest-four-winged-dinosaur-discovered-and-it-has-massive-feathers/

======
mkoryak
FYI: The fossil image in the article is actually 600x900:

[http://img.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp-
content/up...](http://img.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp-
content/uploads/sites/21/2014/07/Changyuraptor-photo.jpg)

~~~
mcguire
Given the rarity of non-bone fossilization, that is a beautiful fossil.

~~~
Istof
I wonder which conditions are required to get a whole-body fossil

~~~
Fuzzwah
The best guess as to why this area in China contains so many well preserved
fossils boils down to how quickly the remains were covered in volcanic ash.

"Xu has had a bounty of fossils to work on, particularly from Liaoning. The
creatures unearthed there are remarkably well preserved, perhaps because they
were entombed quickly during volcanic eruptions and mudslides between 160
million and 120 million years ago. The rocks record fine details including the
imprints of feathers, which allowed Xu to determine that a fierce 9-metre-long
tyrannosaurid, which he named Yutyrannus, had a coat of long feathers"

[http://www.nature.com/news/china-s-dinosaur-hunter-the-
groun...](http://www.nature.com/news/china-s-dinosaur-hunter-the-ground-
breaker-1.11352)

"Fossils of big animals are rare—and fossils of small organisms are rarer
still, because small, delicate bodies decompose more readily than larger ones.
However, in Liaoning even small animals and insects were well preserved.

This is because when plants and animals died there, they often washed into one
of the many streams and lakes in the region. More importantly, they were
quickly covered in volcanic ash soon after death. Because the remains were
buried so rapidly, many of the Liaoning fossils preserve much of the entire
organism in remarkable detail."

[http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/dinos/liaoning.php](http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/dinos/liaoning.php)

------
smoyer
I know it doesn't fit the profile (a lion's body and hind legs), but when I
first saw the picture, I immediately thought "that's a griffin". The fact that
there were also feathers on the hind legs and tail-feathers instead of a
lion's tail were only things I noticed after looking more closely!

~~~
bostonpete
Well, it would also need two front legs.

------
create_acct
The largest wing span (20-24 feet) for a bird ever known was discovered this
week as well.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagornis_sandersi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagornis_sandersi)

~~~
tempestn
Wow, that article linked to this[1], from which I learned that the largest
flying Pterosaurs had wingspans of over 10m (~35ft), and weighed upwards of
250kg (550lb).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur_size#Speculation_abo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur_size#Speculation_about_pterosaur_size_and_flight)

------
justinngc
We should not forget that dinosaurs are actually reptiles, and that they
"evolved" from reptiles to birds to adjust to changes and circumstances.

More info here: [http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_431_Evolution-of-
birds...](http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_431_Evolution-of-birds-from-
feathered-reptiles/)

------
quarterwave
I was curious how feathers -> flight evolved, came across this article:
[http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/thedinobirdconnection/a/origin...](http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/thedinobirdconnection/a/originflight.htm)

------
bane
So fantasy dragons and Avatar notwithstanding, six limbs on a land dweller is
pretty weird. I'm going to have to question this creature either being real or
actually having four-wings and a pair of legs.

[http://www.thegeektwins.com/2010/06/flawed-science-of-
avatar...](http://www.thegeektwins.com/2010/06/flawed-science-of-avatar-six-
legs.html#.U8ZzkPldVmg)

 _edit_ Looking a bit more into it, it looks like the artist's picture is a
hopeful fantasy. The class of animals were more like flying squirrels in the
sense that they used their hind legs for lift as well. So they're four limbed
animals.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor)

~~~
tokenadult
Dinosaurs are part of the tetrapod clade, so I never expected "four-winged" to
mean anything other than that the hind limbs and forelimbs are both feathered
and used for flight. That's what the artist's conception based on the
discovered fossils shows.

~~~
bane
Oh wow. I think I need more coffee. The first few times I looked at the
artist's rendering, I swear I thought it was a 4 winged, two legged animal.
But you're right, they rendered it as a tetrapod.

~~~
chton
The drawing is very confusing. It looks as if the back wings are just
obscuring clawed legs rather than being the legs themselves. I had exactly the
same thought as you and came here to comment the same thing.

------
tempestn
This kind of thing is so awesome. I want my Jurassic Park, dang it!

------
NickWarner775
Crazy to think there are still so many species that we havnt discovered. Now
Im waiting for the discovery of dragon fossils.

------
bitwize
A creature too awesome to have had any right to exist.

I was like "Didn't I have to fight that thing in _Shadow of the Colossus_?"

