Roughly 130 million years ago, in what is now northeastern China, volcanoes repeatedly showered down fine-grained ash, capturing remarkable details of ancient animals and plants. The fossils have allowed scientists to reconstruct a vivid picture of the ecosystem and gain insights into how modern organisms evolved. Here, glimpse the creatures—some familiar, others entirely alien—that inhabited the region long ago.
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The full name of this animal, Sinosauropteryx prima, means "first Chinese winged lizard." Its discovery in the mid-1990s delighted many paleontologists who suspected that birds are close kin to dinosaurs. This fossil offered evidence in the form of downy, short feathers all along the animal's head, back, and tail. A carnivorous dinosaur about the size of a greyhound, Sinosauropteryx likely ran swiftly on its two hind legs. With fuzzy feathers just a few millimeters long, it is unlikely that it ever flew. The feathers could, however, help keep the dinosaur warm through cool nights in the temperate forest.