Wednesday, March 12, 2008

These are not your father's dinosaurs


There is a new exhibit on Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight, at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, from now through September 28, showcasing a collection of 35 fossils that are national treasures on loan from China.

What's amazing are the life-size recreations - according to the Museum webpage:

Deinonychus (right) had ancestors that were capable of flying so it is a bird that had lost the ability to fly.

Cryptovolans (left), a four winged bird. The flight feathers on the hind legs gives Cryptovolans the appearance of being a bird equipped with four wings.