பறவையாகும் வழியில் ஒரு டைனஸோர் கண்டுபிடிப்பு

சுமார் 80 மில்லியன் வருடங்களுக்கு முந்திய டைனஸோர் எலும்புக்கூடு கிடைத்துள்ளது. கோபி பாலைவனத்தில் கிடைத்த இந்த டைனஸோருக்கு ஆரம்பநிலை சிறகுகள் இருப்பது தெரிகிறது.

தினந்தோறும் பரிணாமத்தை உறுதிப்படுத்தும் பண்டைய அகழ்வாராய்வு பொருட்கள் கிடைத்தவண்ணம் உள்ளன.

ஆனால், இன்னமும் 5000 வருடத்துக்கு முன்னர் 6 நாட்களில் உலகத்தை உருவாக்கிய பழங்குடியினர் கதையை அப்பாவிகள் பலர் நம்பிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்கள்.




New "Mini" Dinosaur a Step in Bird Evolution Path
Kevin Holden Platt
for National Geographic News

September 6, 2007

An 80-million-year-old fossil recently uncovered in the Gobi desert could be a key piece of the evolutionary puzzle of how massive dinosaurs gave rise to today's comparatively tiny birds, paleontologists say.

The newfound species, dubbed Mahakala omnogovae, measures just 27.5 inches (70 centimeters) from its head to the tip of its feathered tail.




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Dinosaur digs over the last decade—including many in China—have suggested that several of the ancient reptiles were covered in feathers, a hint of their potential link to birds.

(Related: "Massive Birdlike Dinosaur Unearthed in China" [June 13, 2007].)

But few of the fossils have provided direct evidence of the evolutionary changes that led to flight.

Mahakala's small size bolsters the idea that some theropods, or bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs, decreased in stature during the evolutionary transition into birds, according to the team of paleontologists who discovered the young adult fossil.

"Miniaturization has long been considered crucial to the origin of flight," said Alan Turner of New York's American Museum of Natural History.

"Now Mahakala is providing the first signs of some of these early evolutionary steps."

Turner and colleagues will present their findings in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.

Tiny Protector

The Mahakala fossil was found in the southern part of the Gobi in Mongolia and was named after a Tibetan Buddhist protector deity.

Paleontologists reconstructed Mahakala based on fossilized portions of the dinosaur's skull and limbs along with most of its spinal column.