New Bird Fossils Discovered in China
During the last 20 years, paleontologists have been unearthing dozens of different fossils from ancient birds that coexisted with other dinosaurs in China. The site, which is not far from the Great Wall, is a treasure trove of fossils that date back to 20 million years ago. At least two of these species were brand new. Scientists have had a difficult time identifying them due to their brokenness or incompleteness.
These fossils are special for another reason: they're helping scientists fill in the gaps that were left by evolution, following the timelines of these species and providing dental fossils to compare the birds with dinosaurs much better than previous fossils allowed. We now know that it was a small group of dinosaurs that evolved into birds, but that those birds still lived alongside other species of dinosaurs in the prehistoric world.
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