Discovering Archeopteryx - discovering surprising signs of dinosaurs

The raptors are considered to be the first primitive species, but the study reveals that this species is not a bird-like shape as scientists expect.

In fact, an important study conducted by the scientist Gregory M. Erickson of Florida State University found the first image of an ancient aquatic bird (from Greece with ancient adversity). lived 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period in Germany. Here, this animal is rewritten as a hairy dinosaur - with the characteristics of the bird outside and the characteristics of the dinosaurs inside.

That's because the new images of ancient cells and the blood inside the skeletons of claws, feathers and wings show a very slow development and evolution, taking many years similar. dinosaurs , from birds evolved into. In contrast, birds are growing fast and mature in just a few weeks.

Digging has added new discoveries to the rapid development of skeletons in all living birds, but surprisingly, ancient birds do not have this feature. This study was published on October 9, 2009 in PLoS ONE. Collaborating with Erickson, an associate professor at the Florida State School of Biological Sciences and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, co-authored with biologist Brian D.Inouuye at the university Florida State University and American scientists, as well as researchers from many Germany and China.

'Living birds grow very fast,' said Mr. Erickson. 'That's why we rarely see young birds in the average number of pigeons. Slow-growing species like Archeopteryx will look strange to current bird watchers. '

He added that the evidence also confirms that birds are essentially dinosaurs. 'But what about the first bird like dinosaurs or even birds? Almost nothing records the biological process of the Archeopteryx. There was also a debate about how they could fly. Some have suggested that early bird biophysics may be different from living species, but no one has ever tested fossils close to birds 'ancestors.'

This is an image of the opposite of the Munich bird ( Photo: Mick Ellison / AMNH)

The remaining fossil evidence of this Archeopteryx was found in Germany in 1860, a year after Darwin's 'Origin of Species' law was born. Along with a combination of bird features, including feathers and clavicle and reptilian-like features such as teeth, 3-fingered hands and long tails - skeletons that help the theory of evolution become available more basis. In the 1960s, the evolutionary researcher Thomas Henry Huxley discovered that Archeopteryx is the perfect harmony between birds and reptiles. Erickson calls it the "son of evolution".

'Our studies require great collaboration, we have conducted experiments to conclude how the Archeopteryx grows and compares with the development of living birds, with close proximity. Stay close to dinosaurs, and other ancient birds. ' Erickson said.

'I went to Munich with my colleague Mark Norell from the American Museum of Natural History and we met Oliver Rauhut, who was in charge of the collection of Paleontology and Geology, currently hosting an Archeopteryx. is growing and that is one of 10 tests found so far. From this sample we took a small bone sample and examined it through a microscope. '

Amazingly, the bones of this large Archeopteryx are not as fast-growing and vascular as the dinosaurs. Erickson also discovered vascular bones similar to lizards.

He asked, 'Does the Archeopteryx grow in a unique way?'

To explain this strange bone, the researchers examined different species of dinosaurs and had a close relationship with the Archeopteryx, including the clawed lizard, a feeding bird. Meat is famous at Jurassic Park. They then sent colleagues in China the specimens of the two oldest birds: Jeholornis prima, with long tails and Sapeornis chaochengensi with short tails, each with 3 fingers and teeth.

'In the smallest dinosaur specimen, and in an ancient bird, we discovered the same type of bone as the bone model of an adult Archeopteryx,' said Erickson.

Next, the team fitted the bone formation rates to the size of the Archeopteryx skeleton to predict their rate of growth.

'We see adults will take about 970 days to grow.' He continued. 'Some birds of the same size today can be like that in 8-9 weeks. In contrast, the maximum growth rate of Archeopteryx is similar to dinosaurs, 3 times slower than living birds and four times faster than existing reptiles. "

'From these findings, we see the transfer of biology and metabolism into true birds that take millions of years to come after the Archeopteryx. However, it may be very important, we have also demonstrated that bird-like dinosaurs can fly evenly along with the biological characteristics of dinosaurs. '

Inouye added, 'Our data on the growth rate and survival of dinosaurs are bringing biology and biology to modern species populations to a more focused field of finding. Search and identify fossil species 'names.'

Funding for this study is Germany's National Science Foundation (NFS), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and research projects of China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

Contributing to Erickson (first author) and Brian Inouye of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla, PLoS ONE co-author is Oliver WM Rauhut, in charge of the Department of Biological Studies. and Bavarian state geology, LMU Munich, Germany; Zhonghe Zhou, Vertebrate paleontology research institute at the Chinese, Beijing and Chinese Academy of Sciences; Alan Turner, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; Dongyu Hu, Institute of Biological Antique Research, Shenyang, Normal University, Shenyang, China; and Mark Norell, the paleontology department, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.

Refer:

1. Erickson et al. Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archeopteryx. PLoS ONE, 2009; 4 (10): e7390 DOI: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0007390