A discovery of a fossil reveals how dinosaurs have become what we know today as birds. We are talking about a fossil found in 1861 and it was the first feather fossil ever found in history, but the strange thing was the next similar fossils that scientists found had no feathers at all. Why was this feather all alone? Maybe it belonged to a creature different to the one thought.
There have been many fossil discoveries throught time, but this one will surprise you a lot. Let’s dig for more information about these fossils and what the conclusion of the feather was.
Was it really an Archaeopteryx?
CHarles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 in which he talked about how life on Earth depended on his theory of natural selection. After two years, a fossil of a feather was found in Germany and it became the first feather fossil ever found.
It was believed it belonged to the Archaeopteryx creature, which existed 150 million years ago and it was a mixture of bird and dinosaur. However, as time passed, they found more skeletons of this creature but no feather like the one found in Germany was ever seen again.
This started many debates on whether this special feather really came from the Archaeopteryx or not. Maybe there was another creature they haven’t encountered yet. Let’s see if they solved the mystery…
The mystery feather
Some international palaeontologists used high technology to see if they could have an answer for this question after more than 160 years and… they did.
They used some scan and image methods that allowed them to compare that mystery feather to a specific Archaeopteryx specie, the Altmühl, one of the best preserved species.
What they found from this comparison was amazing! The feather fossil matched the Altmühl’s feather of its left wing in shape, measure and its curvature. So, yes, this feather belongs to what it was first believed, it belongs to the Archaeopteryx species.
What about the feather’s color?
Scientists used technology that could analyze the feather from the inside and they found melanosomes, which contain color. This element showed the feather was entirely black and matt.
What this type of color did for these species was strengthen their feathers because the black color makes feathers resistant to their everyday use, so they could fly more efficiently.
How amazing is that? I mean, who would have thought the black color had that feature on feathers.
Relevance of the fossil
This discovery is crucial for the theory about how theropod dinosaurs, like the most common Velociraptor, evolved into birds. Thanks to the affirmation of the feather being part of the Archaeopteryx species, scientists could conclude this was transitional, that is they were somewhat between dinosaurs and birds.
This was shown in evidence like the fact that they had wings and feathers, which is a main feature of birds; and they also had teeth, claws and long bone tail, which was characteristic of dinosaurs.
This feather also showed the capacity these mixed species had to fly back then. Maybe they didn’t fly as we see current birds fly, but they did short journey at least.
Evolution
All this examination and data is important to have a better understanding of evolution. The feathers were first used to protect the species against cold temperatures and it gradually evolved into a tool for flying. This led to the creation of modern birds and the theory that animals change as time passes so that they adapt to their environment.
It is so fascinating how animals have such adaptability capacity and how the evolution process works. This species evolved with no need of technology nor human interaction, they adapted to nature by themselves.