Page 136 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)

Feathered hunters

Dinosaurs take flight Ornitholestes The long dinosaur

tail was inherited
by the first birds, but
gradually reduced
over time.

Scipionyx had
sharp teeth, unlike
modern-day birds.

Scipionyx fossil

Buitreraptor

Epidexipteryx had long plumes
extending from its short, bony tail,
which was similar to that of a The unusually long
modern bird.
snout bristled with
small teeth adapted
for seizing and
gripping prey.

Epidexipteryx Like

many small
dinosaurs,
Ornitholestes

is known from just
a single

fossil.

For decades it has been clear that the were covered with feathers of some kind. This
skeletons of small, long-armed theropod means that the only difference between these
dinosaurs like Buitreraptor are similar to small dinosaurs and the first birds was the length
that of the first known bird, Archaeopteryx. of their arms and the nature of their feathers. At
More recent fossil evidence also shows that the first sight a small, agile hunter with fuzzy feathers
134 bodies of many of these lightweight hunters such as Ornitholestes might not seem very like

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