Dino feathers may have had earlier origin than thought

Hairlike filaments found on 'wrong' side of dino family tree

Filaments preserved in newly described fossils hint that feathers, one hallmark of modern-day birds, may have originated from structures present on some of the earliest dinosaur species.

HAIRY BEAST This artist’s reconstruction shows a filament-covered Tianyulong confuciusi, an ornithischian dinosaur that lived in what is now northeastern China between 120 million and 130 million years ago.