Caudipteryx

What it was like

Caudipteryx was a feathered dinosaur about 1 meter (3 feet) long, roughly the size of a peacock. It had long legs for running, short arms and a fan of long feathers at the end of its tail.

It also had feathers on its arms, but they were too short for flight. It probably used them for display. It ate plants and small animals, and swallowed stones to help grind its food.

Its world

It lived about 126 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. Its fossils come from the Yixian Formation, famous for feathered dinosaurs.

Its neighbors included Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus, Psittacosaurus and the large feathered tyrannosaur Yutyrannus.

How it was found

Ji and colleagues named Caudipteryx in 1998. The type species is Caudipteryx zoui. It was one of the first dinosaurs found with clear feathers, and it helped settle the link between dinosaurs and birds.