Anchiornis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids AnchiornisTemporal range: Upper Jurassic
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Anchiornis
Xu Xing 2009
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Anchiornis huxleyi Xu |
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Anchiornis (meaning 'near bird') is a type of small, feathered dinosaur. It belongs to a group called troodontids. The full name, Anchiornis huxleyi, honors Thomas Henry Huxley. He was one of the first scientists to suggest that birds and dinosaurs are closely related.
This dinosaur was quite tiny! A complete Anchiornis would have been about 34 centimeters (13 inches) long. It weighed only about 110 grams (3.9 ounces). This makes it the smallest known feathered dinosaur discovered so far.
Fossils of Anchiornis have been found in Liaoning, China. They date back to the early part of the late Jurassic period. This was about 160 to 161 million years ago.
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What Did Anchiornis Look Like?
Anchiornis was a small, early troodontid dinosaur. It had a triangular-shaped skull, much like other troodontids. Its legs were long, which usually means an animal is a fast runner. However, Anchiornis had many feathers on its legs. This suggests that its long legs might not have been for running. Animals that run a lot tend to have less hair or feathers on their legs, not more.
The front limbs (arms) of Anchiornis were also very long. This is unusual for troodontids, which usually have short arms. But long arms are common in dromaeosaurids and early birds. This shows that Anchiornis was a very early type of "dinobird."
Its Amazing Feathers
When the first Anchiornis fossil was found, it only showed faint traces of feathers. But a second, much better-preserved fossil was discovered later. This fossil showed almost all its feathers! Scientists could then study their structure and how they were placed on the body.
Like other early birds such as Microraptor, Anchiornis had large wings. These wings were made of flight feathers attached to its arms and hands, just like modern birds. But it also had flight feathers on its back legs! This created a unique setup with both front and back wings.
The front wing of Anchiornis had 11 main feathers and 10 secondary feathers. Unlike Microraptor, the main feathers on Anchiornis were about the same length as the secondary ones. This made its wings more rounded. The feathers themselves were curved but symmetrical. They were also small and thin, with rounded tips. All these features suggest that Anchiornis was not a very good flyer. In contrast, Microraptor and Archaeopteryx had longer feathers closer to the wingtip. This made their wings long, narrow, and pointed, which is better for flying. But in Anchiornis, the longest feathers were near the wrist. This made the wing widest in the middle and narrower at the tip.
The back wings of Anchiornis were shorter than those of Microraptor. They had 12 to 13 flight feathers attached to the lower leg (tibia) and 10 to 11 on the upper foot (metatarsus). Also, unlike Microraptor, the back wing feathers were longest closer to the body. The foot feathers were short and pointed downwards. What's really unique is that the feet of Anchiornis (except for the claws) were completely covered in feathers! These were much shorter than the feathers that made up the back wing.
Two other types of simpler, downy feathers covered the rest of its body. These were similar to those found on Sinornithosaurus. Long, downy feathers covered almost its entire head, neck, body, upper legs, and the first half of its tail. The rest of its tail had stiffer, flat tail feathers.
What Colour Was Anchiornis?
In 2010, scientists did something amazing. They looked closely at many points on the feathers of a very well-preserved Anchiornis fossil. They were looking for melanosomes. These are tiny cells that give feathers their color. By studying these melanosomes and comparing them to those of modern birds, the scientists could figure out the exact colors and patterns on Anchiornis when it was alive. This was the first time almost the entire life color of a Mesozoic dinosaur was known!
Most of the body feathers of Anchiornis were grey and black. The top of its head had reddish feathers, with a grey base and front. Its face had reddish-brown spots among mostly black head feathers. The feathers on its front and back wings were white with black tips. The shorter feathers covering the bases of the long wing feathers were grey. This made a nice contrast with the mostly white main wings. The larger coverts (feathers covering the wing bases) were also white with grey or black tips. This formed rows of darker dots along the middle of the wing. These looked like dark stripes or rows of dots on the outer wing. On the inner wing, they were more uneven speckles. The lower parts of its legs were grey, except for the long back wing feathers. Its feet and toes were black.
Just like many modern birds, Anchiornis had a complex pattern of colors. It had different colors in speckled patterns across its body and wings. In modern birds, these complex color patterns are used for communication and display. This could be to attract mates, warn off rivals, or scare away predators.
How Did Anchiornis Live?
Anchiornis is special because of its long front limbs. They were about 80% of the length of its back limbs. This is similar to Archaeopteryx. Long front limbs are important for flying. Anchiornis also had a wrist that was more like a bird's than other non-bird dinosaurs.
At first, scientists thought Anchiornis might have been able to fly or glide. However, later discoveries showed that its wings, while well-developed, were short compared to later species like Microraptor. Its main flight feathers were also relatively short and had rounded, symmetrical tips. This is different from the pointed, aerodynamic feathers of Microraptor. So, it's likely that Anchiornis could glide, but probably not truly fly.
Anchiornis had long back legs, which often suggests an animal that runs fast. But its legs, feet, and even toes were covered in feathers. This makes it unlikely that Anchiornis was a good ground runner. Because of its feathers and wing structure, scientists now think Anchiornis probably lived in trees and used its wings to glide from tree to tree.
See Also
Images for kids
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Fossil wing including the skin outline (white areas) and remains of the feathers (dark areas)
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Skeletal restoration by Scott Hartman, 2017
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Artist's impression, illustrating feather arrangement and life coloration of the Beijing specimen
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The Beijing specimen which had its colouration examined in 2010
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Life restoration by M. Martyniuk, 2010, based on the color pattern of the Beijing specimen.
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Photograph of specimen and diagram showing plumage
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Fossil exhibited in Japan
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