Using high-powered lasers, paleontologists have detected rare traces of soft tissue in the fossilized remains of Anchiornis—a four-winged dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period.

The quantitative reconstruction of Anchiornis, which was first discovered in northeastern China in 2009, show that the animal possessed drumstick-shaped legs, long forearms connected by wing-like ...

These findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, build on previous guesses about Anchiornis’ body shape, providing a detailed reconstruction of the body for the first time.

The feathered Anchiornis, which had drumstick-shaped legs similar to modern birds, could shed light on the origin of flight. A life reconstruction of the bird-like feathered dinosaur Anchiornis ...

These are steppingstones on the way to modern birds.” The paper includes an artist’s reconstruction of Anchiornis. “I think this is one of the most lifelike depictions of any dinosaur ...

Reconstruction of the plumage color of the Jurassic troodontid Anchiornis huxleyi. M. A. DiGiorgio / Quanguo Li et al. / Science 327.5971 Naturally, there are some limits to this approach.

The feathered Anchiornis, which had drumstick-shaped legs similar to modern birds, could shed light on the origin of flight. A life reconstruction of the bird-like feathered dinosaur Anchiornis ...