(2003-01-22) — Scientists in China have discovered a pile of ancient dinosaur fossils which could cast light on research into how reptiles evolved into birds.
The announcement comes on the heels of another Chinese discovery of something that looks like a three-foot-long dragonfly with feathers. Some scientists speculate the apparently four-winged creature may have been an intermediate species between reptiles and birds.
But the new find of a pile of small dinosaur fossils suggests an even earlier stage in the evolution of reptiles into birds.
Dr. Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, said in a statement. “This pile of fossilized bones shows that these dinosaurs attempted flight long before they had feathers. Apparently they would just leap from the tree, one after another-their spines snapping like twigs upon impact. Most of them are about three feet from the base of the tree-hundreds of twisted carcasses. But a few leaped out as far as four or five feet, meeting with the same fate.”
Scientists speculate that modern birds descended from these long leapers, known as longus lepius, however since they all died on impact, it’s hard to figure out how the pre-flight genes were passed on.
“Sadly, there are no dinosaur footprints leaving the ‘drop zone’,” said Dr. Xu.

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