After the discovery of the Chinese dragon bird, some hairy dinosaur fossils have been found in the western Liaoning region of China, and the fossils further prove that the "Chinese dragon bird" named by Ji Qiang is actually a small theropod dinosaur dinosaur with feathers, which is actually far from the birds. Perhaps Ji Qiang is not satisfied with the "Chinese Dragon Bird" he found and named to be considered a dinosaur rather than a bird, and he wants to find fossils closer to birds to truly prove that birds originated from dinosaurs.
In 1999, at the end of the last century, Dr. Ji Qiang and others personally excavated and found a well-preserved fossil with feathers in the Lingyuan Dawang wanzi area of Liaoxi, which should be another non-avian dinosaur fossil with feathers found in Liaoxi, and is the closest to a bird with feathers. However, this time Ji Qiang seems to have learned a lesson and did not easily draw conclusions about this fossil.
Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon
At the same time, in the summer of 1998, the Liaoning West Field Team of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences excavated a positive specimen of this dinosaur near the fossil production area of the "Chinese Dragon Bird" on the last day before the team was closed. In the rock formations about 90 cm from the fossil-rich layer, a broken stubble of the fossil was found on the section of the excavated shale flakes. By this time, some fossil-containing rock fragments had been removed from the pit. Li Yinfang of the Bird Fossil Management Office of Beipiao City, who helped excavate, cleaned the rock formation where the fossils appeared, and an animal mark appeared on the black-gray shale level: the overall outline could not be seen, but there was a row of machete-like teeth on the head, and some black fuzz-like marks were exposed on the section. Judging from its teeth, it will certainly not be a common Confucius bird in this area, but at the same time it has a feather-like structure. This is the first fossil specimen of a long-feathered dinosaur collected by researchers themselves in the past few years. In this sense alone, this specimen has become an important record in the history of paleontological research in western Liaoning.
Like the Chinese dragon bird, the fossil also formed two specimens, the orthographic specimen is now stored in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China, and has been studied by scientists such as Xu Xing and Wu Xiaochun and Wang Xiaolin. In the second specimen, when the stones were separated, almost all the bones were scattered, and only the outlines of the bones on the stones could be recognized. This makes it difficult for scientists to identify the characteristics of the fossils and to determine their classification. This specimen is stored in the Geological Museum of China.
Xu Xing, Wu Xiaochun and Wang Xiaolin later named it Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon based on the first fossil. Named Millennium because the millennium is coming, a new century is about to begin, and the naming of the Chinese bird dragon seems to be a correction of the chinese dragon bird naming error, it represents the fifth species of theropod dinosaur with feathers or feather-like structure produced in this region, its large color photo later appeared in the November 1999 National Geographic magazine, careful preservation and almost demanding repairs make this specimen one of the most exquisite specimens from western Liaoning. It has become a new favorite of the paleontological community.
After research, the Chinese bird dragon (genus name: Sinornithosaurus, meaning "Chinese bird lizard"), is a feathered dinosaur of the Chilong family, the fifth feathered dinosaur found in western Liaoning, and as mentioned above, when it was discovered in 1999, it was the closest to a bird with feathers. Other dinosaurs of the family Chironidae, such as Velociraptors, are also thought to have feathers. Xu Xing et al. recounted the Chinese ornithistorm and proposed a study of phromethogenesis, which is considered to be a primitive chiron family. Xu Xing also proposed that their heads and shoulders were very similar to those of Archaeopteryx and other birds. These two features confirm that the earliest Chironosaurus resembled birds more like birds than the late Chipatosaurus.
Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon Restoration
The discovery of the Chinese bird dragon supports the "take-off from the ground" theory of bird flight. The "gliding from trees" theory assumes that birds evolved from arboreal dinosaurs that glided and moved from branches to branches. The "take off from the ground" theory, on the other hand, assumes that birds evolved from running dinosaurs whose feathers were insulating or courtship displays. However, the discovery of the four-winged dinosaur Little Robberosaurus shows that the original theory of bird evolution was overly simplistic, and different near-bird dinosaurs developed evolutionary patterns of "taking off from the ground" and "gliding from trees" at the same time, and each had a corresponding lifestyle.
Ten years later, in 2009, American scientists further discovered that the Millennium Chinese bird dragon was the world's first dinosaur capable of secreting venom. Like today's venomous snakes, it injects venom from its fangs into its prey, effectively paralyzing its prey. The Millennium Chinese bird dragon is about the size of a turkey, and they have a bag-like structure on their upper jaw, most likely poisonous glands. When attacking prey, the venom in the venom gland will penetrate into the bitten part along the grooves in the poisonous fangs, causing the prey to fall into paralysis or even shock. The researchers said that the dinosaur's poisonous fangs are similar to the "post-venom" structure of the African tree snake, instead of spraying venom into the prey's body through the front teeth, they slowly infiltrated the venom into the prey through the "post-venom fangs". Researchers at the University of Kansas and Northwestern University, who participated in the study, said the venomous dinosaurs may not have used venom to kill prey, but only to paralyze them so that it would be easier to catch prey, which is also the way modern "post-venomous tooth" snakes and lizards hunt.
David Burnham, a researcher at the University of Kansas, thinks they may be good at launching raids from low branches behind their prey. Once the teeth penetrate deep into the skin of the prey, the venom also seeps in. The prey is in shock, but they should still be alive. David's colleague Larry Martin said: "We studied its tooth and maxillary structure and found that they resemble modern snakes.
Millennium Chinese bird dragons were first discovered in China in 1999, and they are close relatives such as Gu's little thief and can use their wings to glide. The main prey of these dinosaurs was smaller dinosaurs or primitive birds. Burnham said we believe that the piping system of the Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon through the venom gland allows the venom to enter the bottom of the tooth and sink into the grooves. So, when they insert their teeth into the prey's tissue, the venom will enter with it, quickly subduing the prey. Researchers believe that other bird-like dinosaurs may also have had such poisonous teeth. This discovery is important for evolutionary theory because dinosaurs are not close relatives of modern reptiles, which means that the poisonous fangs of modern venomous snakes and millennium Chinese birds and dragons evolved independently. This is also a classic example of convergent evolution, where natural selection guides different organisms to evolve similar functions.
At this point, the Millennium Chinese Bird Dragon has created two firsts, one is that it is the first long-feathered dinosaur fossil specimen collected by Chinese researchers in the field, and it is also the world's first dinosaur fossil specimen that can secrete venom found so far.
There are more and more feathered dinosaurs found in western Liaoning, more and more individual species, and more and more exquisite feathers, as evidenced by the discovery of the Chinese feathered dragon.
Chinese plumerosaur ( genus name : Sinocalliopteryx ) , also known as " Sinocalliopteryx " , meaning " Chinese beautiful feathers " , is a genus of dinosaurs of the family " Megalodon " , fossils found in the Rehe Formation of China , dating from the Lower Cretaceous Period. Chinese plumerosaurs are similar to their close relatives, " But they were larger , 2.37 m long , making them the largest known species of " Megalosaurus " and the largest known feathered dinosaur , slightly larger than the " Sickleosaurus " " . The species name gigas of the Chinese plumerosaur refers to their giant dinosaurs of the family Megalodonidae. The difference between Chinese Plumerosaurus and Other Jawed Dragons is that their hands and arms are relatively long; It is also longer than most of the Family Megalodons, a feature that may be related to their body size.
Restoration of the Chinese Feather Dragon
Like other theropod dinosaurs found in the Rehe Formation, the Chinese plumerosaurs have preserved a simple feather-like covering, very similar to the covering on the Chinese dragon bird. The longest feathers of the Chinese plumage are located at the rump, the base of the tail, and the back of the thighs, and the feather length varies from part to part. The length of these longest feathers is 10 cm. Interestingly, feathers were also found in the metatarsal area. However, compared with the foot feathers of The Little Raptor and the Foot Feather Dragon, the foot feathers of the Chinese American Feather Dragon are not so long and advanced; This discovery shows the evolution of foot feathers, which appeared in dinosaurs that are more primitive than is currently known.
The skeleton of the Chinese plume dragon is well preserved, and the abdominal area has a part of the legs of the chirosa family, which includes a complete calf, foot, toe claw, and is in a state where the joints are not shed before death. Relative to the abdomen of the Chinese plume dragon, this part of the legs is quite large, occupying almost the entire abdominal area and located under the ribs. In 2007 , the narrator of the Chinese plumer , Ji Shu'an , and others suggested that the fossil showed that the Chinese " Plumerosaurus " fed on smaller, bird-like dinosaurs. This finding also suggests that the Chinese plume dragon may have been an agile, active, and cruel predator; Other fossils of the family Megalodon have found lizards and small mammals in the abdominal area.