Although feathers don't turn into fossils, archaeologists have still found traces of dinosaurs that may have had feathers. Let's take a look at which dinosaurs might have had feathers!
1. Burial Fire Dragon
This reinforced the link between dinosaurs and birds.
Citipati is a genus of oviraptorosaur. Before the discovery of Gigantoraptor in 2007, it was the largest oviraptorosaur in the world. Citipati's most distinctive feature is its tall crest, and its appearance is very similar to that of a modern cassowary.
2. Mid-level Magnificent Feathered Dragon
China's beautiful feathers
Sinocalliopteryx, also known as the Chinese feathered dinosaur, is a genus of compsognathid dinosaur. It is the largest known compsognathid species and the largest known feathered dinosaur.
3. Beipiaolong
An intermediate species between Sinosauropteryx and birds.
Beipiaosaurus was a feathered herbivorous dinosaur. Skin traces from the type specimen show that Beipiaosaurus's body was covered with down-like feathers, similar to Sinosauropteryx, but Beipiaosaurus's feathers were longer and hung vertically from its arms.
4. Sinosauropteryx
It may be a primitive bird.
Sinosauropteryx lived during the Early Cretaceous period, approximately 140 million years ago. Fossils of Sinosauropteryx were discovered in Piaoshangyuan Township, northwestern Liaoning Province, China. Sinosauropteryx possessed fibrous, fringed structures on its spine and body surface, which may have been precursors to feathers. It did not function as a flier and primarily served to protect its skin and maintain body temperature.
5. Anchiornis
The world's earliest known feathered dinosaur
Anciornis was a small theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period. It had unusual flight feathers on both its forelimbs and hindlimbs, and it is speculated that the colors of the flight feathers may have been quite gorgeous. Such a phenomenon of being covered in feathers all over its body is unprecedented among extinct species.
6. Sauropteryx
It looks very much like a bird
Saurornithoides is a genus of maniraptorosaurs belonging to the Troodontidae family, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period. It was a dinosaur that looked very much like a bird; some scientists even believe it had feathers and could fly.
7. Pterosaur
Very closely related to birds
Pteranodon, a small dinosaur, is a group of peculiar-looking dinosaurs with short, stubby heads, extremely long fingers on the outside of their hands, and, most notably, stiff, filamentous feathers that are more like primitive feathers than the flat feathers of other bird-like dinosaurs and birds.
8. Tail Feather Dragon
This provides important information for research on the origin of bird feathers.
Caudipteryx, also known as the tailed bird, is a genus of small theropod dinosaurs, about the size of a peacock, that lived during the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous period (about 124.6 million years ago). They were covered in feathers and had an overall appearance very similar to birds.
