The question of whether birds are the offspring of dinosaurs has been further complicated by the discovery of a weird fossil of a creature with a dinosaur skull and a bird body in China that is 120 million years old.
The fossil was discovered in northern China, and the researchers think it will offer important new information on how modern birds evolved.
According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the species known as Cratonavis zhui possessed long shoulder blades and claws, and its massive head was nearly identical to that of Tyrannosaurus rex and other meat-eating theropods.
High-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning was used by the CAS researchers to study the fossil by scanning the cranium.
Using the digital versions of the mineralized bones, they reconstructed the shape and function of the skull as it was during the bird’s life.
The result showed that the shape of the Cratonavis skull was similar to that of T-rex and not like birds.
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