Newly Discovered Dinosaur had Wings like a Bat

A new feathered dinosaur unearthed from Jurassic rocks in northeastern China had long bones protruding from its wrists that may have supported wing membranes—like the kind you’d find in bats and flying squirrels, not birds. Yi qi, as the critter is called, is an extraordinary example of early evolutionary experiments with flight. Although ultimately, it may have been a failed experiment. The findings were published in Nature this week. 

“The picture of the evolution of feathers and flight has become richer and more complicated as other feathered dinosaurs have been discovered, seemingly on a monthly basis,” UC Berkeley’s Kevin Padian writes in an accompanying News & Views article. “But things have just gone from the strange to the bizarre.”

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