Seven primitive-looking feathers found in amber date back a hundred million years and could fill a key gap in the puzzle of how dinosaurs gave rise to birds, a new study says.
The feathers share features of feather-like fibers from two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods and of modern bird feathers, researchers say.
Seven dino-era feathers found perfectly preserved in amber in western France highlight a crucial stage in feather evolution, scientists report.The hundred-million-year-old plumage has features of both feather-like fibers found with some two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods and of modern bird feathers, the researchers said.
This means the fossils could fill a key gap in the puzzle of how dinosaurs gave rise to birds, according to a team led by Vincent Perrichot of the Museum für Naturkunde-Berlin in Germany.
The find provides a clear example "of the passage between primitive filamentous down and a modern feather," said team member Didier Néraudeau of the University of Rennes in France.
Photograph courtesy Didier Néraudeau
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