Skip to main content

Jeholornis

Jeholornis
Today's animal has been in the news lately, due to a recent discovery relating to its fossils. But mor eon that in a bit. Jeholornis is one of the most ancient birds that we known off-- it lived more than 120 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in China, and were only discovered for the first time back in 2006. (Fun fact: the area where this bird was found is also home to the fossils of many of feathered creatures, including feathered Dinosaurs!)

Jeholornis does not seem to be a direct ancestor of mordern birds-- they come from different lines. However, because of how old this bird is, it can tell us a lot about the early members of the Aves class, and about the evolution of wings and feathers.

Recently, fossils have popped up that suggest Jeholornis had two tails. It was always known that they had a long train of feather, but now there are fossils that show a second tail-- a set of plumage that sticks up from the bird's back.

Scientists can only speculate what the second set of plumes was used for, but use in mating rituals is a good guess. The newly-found tail would jut out similar to the displays done by Peacocks. So far this is the only known bird to have this feather feature!
Status : Extinct 120 Million Years
Location : China
Size : Total Length up to 2.5ft (80cm)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : †Jeholornithiformes
Family : †Jeholornithidae -- Genus : †Jeholornis
Image : Aijuan Shi
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese Peacock

Polyplectron bicalcaratum Burmese Peacocks are also referred to as Grey Peacock-Pheasants, which is probably a more apt name, as they are not actually Peacocks... though they do belong to the same family. At any rate, they share some physical resemblances to Peacocks- most notably the eyes on their tail feathers. Burmese Peacocks are the national birds of Myanmar, which was called Burma until 1989, though some still refer to it as such. The birds live in several other Southeast Asian countries as well, and are divided into four subspecies. The species as a whole is listed as being of Least Concern , because they have a large range and population size. It unfortunately appears that they may be declining in number, but it is a slow descent that does not yet meet the vulnerability thresholds. The birds are listed under CITES Appendix II, because they can be kept in captivity and grabbing individuals from the wild could become problematic for the species. IUCN Stat...
3 comments
Read more

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more