Ancient Earth: The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons

từ đâu? Và ai là gia đình của chúng? Đã lâu rồi, những câu hỏi này vẫn còn không được trả lời. Một trái tim gia đình của chúng đã dừng ngay lập tức ở một loại dân vật trẻ nhất biết, một loại dân vật tìm được trong Đức năm tháng 19, Archaeopteryx, tên của này đến từ tiếng Greek, nghĩa là trái tim. Nhưng từ năm 1996, dân vật trẻ nhất ở Trung Quốc đã tạo ra những ánh sáng mới về nguyên liệu của trái tim. Nhiều nghiên cứu này đảm bảo rằng nhiều dân vật trẻ nhất không được bảo vệ trong trái tim, nhưng được bảo vệ trong trái tim. Nhiều con trái tim này có thể có thể chạy. Điều của câu hỏi dân vật trẻ nhất này rất lớn, và có thể kết nối trái tim của ngày hôm nay với những con trái tim xa xa. Và có thể kết nối với nhiều dân vật trẻ nhất. Trong thời gian Jurassic, giữa 200 và 145 triệu năm trước, cái biên kỳ Pangea đã mở rộng, tạo ra một dân vật trẻ nhất. Ở bên kia thế giới này, Trung Quốc và Siberia đã tạo ra một khu vực lớn, với một khu vực dễ dàng giống như thế giới trước. Thế giới trước đã được theo dõi bởi cơn bão hóa, đặc biệt ở Trung Quốc. Một thế giới đợi đợi, dân vật trẻ nhất, giống như Ankyones. Có nghĩa là, dân vật trẻ nhất. Con trái tim này hoàn toàn được bảo vệ bởi dân vật trẻ nhất. Điều lớn của một con trái tim ngày hôm nay, Ankyones, là một cái quan hệ đã dài. Con trái tim này, hoàn toàn được bảo vệ bởi dân vật trẻ nhất, một nhóm dân vật trẻ nhất trong tất cả các con trái tim. Họ là một con cá sấu năng lượng, 3m lớn, và có lượng 50kg. Để trốn khỏi đây, Ankyones có thể bước lạnh dài, khi tránh khỏi đường và tránh khỏi đường Nhưng, Hoàng Long cũng có những con cá sấu. Bọn nó sử dụng gì? Các vùng vô lạc, đổ xa xác và nổ xác đã giúp chúng ta trở thành một giây phút của cuộc sống Jurassic. Giúp chúng ta trả lời và trả lời những câu hỏi này. Thế giới con cá sấu này đã trở thành con cá sấu của Pompeii. Một vùng vô lạc đã được phát hiện trong một trong những trạm xây dựng của Trung Quốc. Trong 2 tháng sau, trong vùng Liaoning, những người biểu tình đã trả lời hàng trăm con cá sấu bị giấu trong nhiều năm. Những con cá sấu tuyệt vọng này đang trở thành một vùng bảo vệ đầy hoàn hảo. Cảm ơn Trong lúc bạn trở thành một con cá sấu thì các bạn có thể tìm hiểu lý do từng con cá sấu trở thành một vùng biểu tình trong một trạm xây dựng trong nhiều năm, các bạn có thể tìm hiểu lý do từng con cá sấu trở thành một vùng biểu tình Giống như bác sĩ, họ tìm hiểu những bí mật để hiểu các loại cá sấu được sử dụng cho cái gì. Và tìm hiểu các loại cá sấu của gia đình Theropod đã trở thành những loài cá sấu trong nhiều năm. Điều đầu tiên được tìm hiểu trong cuộc tìm hiểu của họ đã được tìm hiểu ở cuối tuần 19 tháng, ở Nhật Bản. Đến cuối tuần Jurassic, Nhật Bản được phần bình dưới một cơ sở bóng nước dài gọi là Cái Cây Tethys. Khoảng 150 triệu năm trước, Nhật Bản được tìm hiểu ở một đảo dài. Cá sấu, những loài cá sấu đầu tiên tìm hiểu, đã thủy đổi mặt trời trong 80 triệu năm. Đây là loài cá sấu Germanodactylus, một trong 150 loài cá sấu được tìm hiểu. Những loài cá sấu này không phải là loài cá sấu. Một mặt trời đẹp dài dài vào tay của loài cá sấu để tạo ra cá sấu màu đen. Những loài cá sấu này, cùng với những loài cá sấu mạnh mẽ và bóng mỏng, làm chúng trở thành các loài cá sấu của mặt trời. Những loài cá sấu được tìm hiểu sẽ được đối mặt với những loài cá sấu đầu tiên tìm hiểu. Như loài Archaeopteryx, một loài cá sấu đơn giản, mặt trời đẹp dài và bóng mỏng, dài của loài cá sấu, tạo ra những loài cá sấu đối mặt với những loài cá sấu của mặt trời. Loài cá sấu này được tìm hiểu ở xung quanh thành phố giới thuật của Söhnhofen, một vùng bảo vệ trời trong thời kỳ Tây Nguyên. Các vùng bảo vệ trời có những bờ sâu dùng để chạy khỏi những loài cá sấu chết. Và chúng được bỏ vào bóng mỏng để giữ hóa chúng trong những thú vị nhẹ nhàng. Các loài cá sấu của Söhnhofen được tìm hiểu ở xung quanh thành phố giới thuật của Söhnhofen, một vùng bảo vệ trời trong thời kỳ Tây Nguyên. và có thể thấy những bờ sâu trông như những bức ảnh. Và trong những bức ảnh tươi tươi này, đây là nơi where Archaeopteryx was found together with many other fossils. And it's a specialty of this rock that it is very, very, very fine-grained. And inside this mud, fossils are preserved like in a tin. And this is why this entire area is so valuable as a window in Jurassic times. The locals used these stones to tile their houses, in the process, uncovering highly prized treasures in the history of paleontology. In 1868, faced with the Archaeopteryx, British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley asserted that this was a transitional fossil between reptiles and birds. A friend of Darwin, ardent defender of the theory of evolution, Huxley was an expert anatomist capable of skilled fossil analysis. Until the year 1861, before Archaeopteryx was discovered, the only creatures that were known to have feathers were the birds. So it was apparent that this is a fossil bird. And Thomas Huxley looked at it very closely and he discovered signs that this bird could also be a dinosaur, actually a carnivorous dinosaur, and actually shares characters of the two, making it a missing link between dinosaurs and birds. That was a sensation at the time. The Darwinian idea of natural selection is therefore very recent. Huxley had the insight to see that Archaeopteryx's teeth, clawed wings and bony tail meant that it had similarities with Comsognathus dinosaurs, predatory relations of the Velociraptors. Archaeopteryx was certainly no acrobat, but it had feathers and it could fly. Its collarbones had already fused together, a vital step enabling the wings to flap efficiently and gain altitude, allowing it to hunt and nest in trees. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, more Archaeopteryx fossils were unearthed in Germany. This is specimen number 11. It's the latest specimen and it came to light in the year 2011. And despite its fragmentary, it's not completely preserved because the skull is missing, it still shows us some features which were previously unknown. One of them is that the tail end shows a V-shaped feather configuration. And the second is that you can see in this specimen the extent of the feather traverse along the legs. The feathers on its feet are intriguing, since modern birds no longer show this characteristic. Is this an exception? What is sure is that this feature has not been selected by evolution. Just like this giant marine reptile, a Leoplorodon. Washed up on the shores of the lagoon, it is a godsend for Archaeopteryx. The flies, attracted by the carcass, provide a hearty meal for this insect eater. But being out in the open is dangerous for Archaeopteryx. An opportunistic Germanodactylus sees the prospect of a protein-rich meal and doesn't appreciate the competition. Once the mightiest creatures in the skies, pterosaurs became extinct by the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, while Archaeopteryx's descendants grew in number. Bogged down at the bottom of the Son Ho Phan lagoon, this remarkable fossil launched the debate on the relationship between birds and dinosaurs. But with insufficient proof, this theory was shelled for more than a hundred years. Until new evidence came to light at the end of the 20th century in China. In 1993, in Liaoning, a huge fossil deposit was found dating from the Cretaceous period, 125 million years ago. This region, formerly known as Manchuria, comprises fertile farmland with fields of corn and pasture. Farmers were the first to uncover fossils inadvertently. In Sihetun, at the foot of a cliff fashioned by volcanic eruptions, layers of gray mud alternate with red ash. Transported to Beijing, these fossils allow 21st century researchers new insights into the feathered dragons. Like Sinosauropteryx, the first discovered in 1996, this specimen remains a source of fascination for one of China's most famous paleontologists, Xu Xin. I remember clearly at that time when this discovery was announced, everyone got so excited, you know. We are kind of shocked by the beauty of the fossil. If you look at this specimen closely, you see the feathers cover the whole body, over the head, over the back, cover the whole tail, a little bit here also, I mean the limb. Basically feathers are quite simple. They are more like your hair. Before this discovery, some paleontologists believed some birds like dinosaurs should have feathers. But now we have real evidence, so that's totally different. The discovery of this feather-covered fossil was astounding. For the first time, they had found a dinosaur with avian characteristics, proof that they were part of the same lineage. In conifer forests, growing in the shadow of volcanoes, lived Sinosauropteryx. It belonged to a group of carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods. These predators use sight and smell to hunt. One of its favorite victims is Zangioterium, one of the first mammals. Sinosauropteryx feathers look like the down covering modern-day chicks. They are so different from bird feathers that for a long time, skeptics dismissed them as mere hairs. In 2010, Xu Xing focused on Sinosauropteryx's strange feathers, which look like the down covering modern-day chicks. He began with careful observation of these feathers. By taking a sample and putting it under the microscope, scientists discovered fossilized pigments. These are melanosomes, cells that give feathers their color. Xu Xing discovered circular shapes that produce a brown pigment and stick-like shapes that create a gray color. He deduced that Sinosauropteryx was the color of a squirrel with lighter stripes on its tail, but that's not all. We can use melanosomes to infer the color, but more importantly for us, we want to use that information to support the hypothesis that those dark impressions in this particular specimen are protofeathers, not something else, because if melanosomes are present, we can see quite confidently those are primitive feathers. Sinosauropteryx was undoubtedly covered in feathers, but this land animal was incapable of flight. So what use was this dino-fuzz? Did it protect this warm-blooded animal from the cold? Possibly. But this theory is not easy to prove. To learn more about the climate in Liaoning during this period, Xu Xing teamed up with a laboratory in France. This theropod tooth brought back from China by geologist Romain Amieux holds the key to this meteorological mystery. A lot of researchers thought that fossils from that time couldn't preserve the weather conditions recorded during the animal's lifetime. It was a big challenge. We were going to test something unknown. Could we find out climate information or not? In a sense, we can test the water that the dinosaurs drank. A chemical reaction with the oxygen preserved in tooth enamel reveals the temperature of the atmosphere 120 million years ago. Romain made a major discovery that radically altered our preconceptions. At that time, there was a global climate that was similar or a little colder than current temperatures, which is very different from what we thought about the period of the dinosaurs that we had imagined as hot, tropical, and the same throughout the world. Where Liaoning is, the climate was similar to what we have in the north of France with very harsh winters. So dinosaurs would have seen snow in winter. So feathers were an insulating material. It meant they could keep warm and keep active throughout the year like any other warm-blooded animal. Coincidentally, just as Romain published his research, the discovery of large-sized dinosaurs confirmed his work. Utyrants, the aptly named feathered tyrants, were the super-predators of the time. Due to their large size, the remains of T-Rex's cousins are kept in a warehouse in a suburb of Beijing. Utyrants is a really amazing animal. You know, it's a really big animal, about one and a half tons in body mass. It's body covered by feathers, really long feathers. So this is unexpected. You know, traditionally, we thought when animals get bigger, for dinosaurs, those feathers, reduced feathers, or at least feathers are kind of sparse. But here we have a large-bodied dinosaur with dense and long feathers. So this is bizarre. The fact that such a large, warm-blooded animal was covered in feathers suggests that its body size was not sufficient to regulate its temperature. So the climate must have been very cold. The discovery of the largest feathered animal ever found confirms the hypothesis of a temperate climate with harsh winters. It proves that the theropod dinosaur of Liaoning wandered into the winter snow 125 million years ago, and that the feathers of the little Sinosauropteryx and the huge Eotyrannus protected them from cold temperatures in this region of the Northern Hemisphere. of feathers remains a feature in modern birds. But it is not sufficient to explain how surface-dwelling dinosaurs evolved over millions of years to become birds. Among the theropods living in Liaoning, was there only one type of feather? And at what stage did dinosaurs begin to fly? Over time, Chinese paleontologists have unearthed many feathered creatures. On some fossils, like the Chordipteryx, discovered in 1998, Xu Xing found feathers that were not just simple filaments. With its large feet, it looks much like an ostrich. In this fossil, there are some really beautiful feather impressions. Here you see two hands of this animal, and here is the middle finger, and you see feathers attached to the finger, this surface, and they go this way, so it's quite big feathers. Chordipteryx, literally meaning tail feather, comes from the same Chinese site as Cynosauropteryx in the same period, 125 million years ago. Scientists imagine that these chicks were imprinted on their mothers just like modern birds, and followed them everywhere, more or less. Weighing almost 20 kilograms, the female Chordipteryx can't fly, neither can her youngsters. So why do these animals have long feathers? Could they serve a purpose other than warmth? Feathers begin as a simple filament, which divides to form a pom-pom before barbs appear around the hollow shaft. But at this stage in their development, feathers are symmetrical and air passes through them. So it is not flying anymore, it's a fast-running animal living on the ground, so what's the function? Apparently those feathers are not used for flight, so the other possibility most people believe is display. Just like many birds, the males and females were physically very different. Paleontologists believe that the male Chordipteryx displayed his shimmering feathers in order to attract females. These courtship rituals, along with natural selection, stimulated an anatomical transformation. Chordipteryx were among the first theropods to possess a shorter tail that supported their display feathers. In order to fly, they were still missing a fundamental element, flight feathers. Seen under a microscope, this feather comes from another dinosaur, discovered in 2000 by Xu Xing himself. It is a vital clue to solving the mystery of the origin of flight. Here the feathers are highly asymmetrical, so asymmetrical feathers are normally considered to be associated with flight capability. These feathers are identical to those of modern birds. It may be proof that some dinosaurs could fly. Microraptor is definitely the most amazing species discovered so far. It is a dinosaur, but you see, it has asymmetric flight feathers, not only the feathers on the arms, but also on the feet. So we call it a four-winged condition. This is really, really bizarre. Now we have quite good evidence suggesting this four-winged condition is related to the origin of flight. For a long time, paleontologists believed that two-legged dinosaurs run along the ground in order to take off. But Microraptor's climbing claws opened up a new possibility. 125 million years ago, in the part of China that Microraptor called home, the ground was fertilized by volcanic ash that encouraged the growth of lush vegetation. Tall trees add a vertical dimension to the landscape, and the Microraptor, meaning small thief, takes advantage of them. Microraptor sported feathers on its arms and legs. With its four wings, it was probably the world's first space jumper. Four wings offer an advantage for gliding, but not for walking. A Microraptor on the ground is a Microraptor in danger. According to Xu Xin, tree-dwelling feathered dinosaurs like these would evolve to become birds. To better understand this transition, paleontologists teamed up with an ornithologist, Xu Zhongyi. In front of him is an incredible collection of primitive birds found at Xietun. Like the feathered dinosaurs from the same site, they all date from the Cretaceous period, 125 million years ago. I think there are over 500 specimens of Confuciusornis collected in this museum I think this is the largest collection of Confuciusornis in the whole world. These birds like Confuciusornis, they are only shortly later than the earliest bird archaeopteryx, and they are transitioned in many flight apparatus, many features. Despite the claws on their wings, they are very similar to modern birds. They no longer have teeth or a long bony tail. They also have a furcula, the famous chicken wishbone, for attaching muscles to wings. And the males have two ceremonial ribbons ornamenting their behinds. This sexual variation is similar to that of the feathered dinosaur, Chordypteryx. Like him, the male has long feathers that he uses to lure the ladies. Competition is tough, and courting displays are often interrupted. Also you can see the bird start climbing the trunk with very big claws in the wing. Now you see the bird can perch on the branches of the trees because the helix of the foot is already reversed, much like a modern bird. Confuciusornis narrow feathers were not well adapted to gliding, but would have allowed it to fly by flapping its wings, albeit clumsily. But natural selection is at work, retaining only the most adept genes. Yet the presence of many birds found at the same location as feathered dinosaurs does not necessarily prove that they were related. If birds had already diversified 125 million years ago, Utyrannus and other theropods may have been merely an evolutionary dead end. So when did the first birds appear? Did they share a common ancestor with feathered dinosaurs? And how did their ancestors begin flying? To answer these questions, Chinese paleontologists have one last card up their sleeves. West of Liaoning, a new fossil bed was revealed during the construction of a motorway. In 2009, a finely preserved Ancheionis, dating from the Jurassic period, was found near here. It was to become a crucial piece in Shu Xing's puzzle. This site is very important for at least for one reason. We know that Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird, is from about 145 million years ago. But most other feathered dinosaurs are, you know, from early Cretaceous or even later. So this dinosaur was living in like 160 million years ago, earlier than Archaeopteryx. So that means there are some feathered dinosaurs predates Archaeopteryx, the earliest bird. So that's the correct time sequence. This new fossil puts an end to the debate. Feathered dinosaurs are undoubtedly older than the first birds. Today, Shu Xing discovers a fish, confirmation that Ancheionis lived in a rich ecosystem. This little four-winged theropod must have been a victim to giant predators. In the Jurassic period, pterosaurs, like these Darwinopterus, ruled the skies. With talon-like claws and a wingspan over a meter wide, they were the equivalent of modern-day birds of prey. Their ability to fly and perform aerial acrobatics was beyond that of the feathered dinosaurs. Faced with this constant danger, Ancheionis sought shelter in the forest. But this little dinosaur was also threatened from the ground. Its only shelter lies in the restricted area between the ground and the sky, the trees. It glides down to feed in the undergrowth. Its surface area is smaller than Microraptor, so it falls more quickly. With its long back legs, Ancheionis is built like a sprinter, but its lengthy feathers are a hindrance on the ground. Its long legs are an advantage for foraging or rushing to the nearest shelter, if such a thing exists. Though clumsy, Ancheionis showed that dinosaurs attempted to fly from trees using four wings. On this rare fossil, the rear leg feathers are visible to the naked eye. To refine his theory, Xu Xing continues his research using a medical scanner. X-rays of Ancheionis' skeleton will be digitized in 3D in order to study its biomechanics. Quite honestly, there are some debates about how exactly those animals use their leg wings. Some people believe the leg wings are not really related to flight. Maybe it is a displaced structure. If we look at other dinosaurs, their leg normally is underneath the body. They have a fully erect posture. One possibility may be Ancheionis can project its leg slightly laterally. To compensate for the lack of a wishbone, Ancheionis used its rear leg feathers to improve its gliding ability. The discovery of Ancheionis proves that dinosaur flight was a result of trial and error in the evolution of anatomy and feathers. Surprisingly, new information about the origin of feathers was soon to appear from over the border. In Siberia, in the summer of 2013, the first Russian feathered fossils made their appearance. 1500 km north of Beijing, in the Trans-Baikal steppe, a team of Russians and Belgians worked together at the excavation site. When local geologists found the first bones, they invited paleontologist Pascal Godefroy from the Royal Institute of Belgium to take part in this revolutionary discovery. We're at the Kulinda deposit in southeast Siberia. The hills you can see behind me date from the Jurassic period between 145 and 160 million years ago. And Russian geologists who were prospecting in the area in 2010 found the first dinosaur bones, which have been extremely important for reconstructing the evolution of plumage and feathers in dinosaurs. As curiosity aroused, Pascal assembled a team to search the site for themselves. It's a lengthy process, requiring a deep layer of soil to be removed to get to the fossils. But after several days, the team's work starts to show results. Look at that. That's quite a big deal. Just there at the edge. Oh, wow. That's one. So here, at the edge of the plate, you can see very fine little filaments. And these are feathers, dinosaur feathers. You can see that the filaments converge towards the base. So these are composite feathers. It's a primitive kind of down that we find on some primitive dinosaurs. Compared to the impressive Chinese discoveries, these fossils may seem a little underwhelming. But the paleontologists are thrilled to discover a completely new animal species. During the Jurassic period, the Chinese peninsula was covered in a vast forest of conifers, while Siberia was much more hostile. The arid climate had huge seasonal variations in temperature and intense volcanic activity, one of the keys to conserving precious fossils. Only fragments of skeletons are found at Kalinda. To begin with, the Russians thought that the feathers came from fossilized birds, the scales from crocodiles, and the bones from a small predatory dinosaur. But Pascal was not convinced by this hypothesis. In 2014, he reanalyzed all the fossils and suggested an entirely different explanation. It's a bit like going into a cemetery and gathering up loose bones. You'll have small tibias, large tibias, little femurs, and big femurs. But they all have the same morphology, so we can tell they all come from the same type of dinosaur that we called Kalinda dromaeus. Because of the large number of disconnected bones that we found at Kalinda, we now know that Kalinda dromaeus was a small herbivore dinosaur that was fast, slender, and agile. This is the first ever feathered herbivore dinosaur to be discovered, a separate branch of the dinosaur family tree from the carnivorous theropods. Kalinda dromaeus lived in herds. Just like wildebeest migrations in Africa, large predators, such as synraptor, must have closely followed the movements of these dinosaurs. This is a real revolution. What it means is that all dinosaurs could potentially have had feathers. Feathers would have appeared on an ancestor that was common to both groups. It could be as old as dinosaurs themselves, first seen in the Triassic period 220 million years ago. The misfortunes of this group of herbivores have led paleontologists to the origins of feathers. Thanks to Kalinda dromaeus, we now know that the first feathered dinosaur, the common ancestor of the carnivores and the herbivores, remains to be found in fossil beds going back to before the Jurassic period. But who knows what other secrets could be found in Siberia? And what clues could be hidden in other parts of the world to document the early history of the Bird Dynasty?