Changyuraptor

What it was like

Changyuraptor was a feathered, four-winged raptor, a larger relative of Microraptor. It had long flight feathers on its arms and legs, and its tail feathers were very long, the longest known from any non-bird dinosaur.

Scientists think the long tail feathers helped it control speed and land safely as it glided or flew between trees. Even so, it was still only about the size of a turkey.

Its world

It lived about 126 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now northeastern China. Its fossil comes from the Yixian Formation, famous for feathered dinosaurs such as Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus and Beipiaosaurus, and home to the big tyrannosaur relative Yutyrannus.

How it was found

Han and colleagues named Changyuraptor in 2014, from a single, well-preserved skeleton with feathers.