Level 1 - Absolute Beginner

Scientists found a new old bird in China. It lived in the Jurassic period. That was very long ago.

The bird was small. It weighed less than one kilogram. It could not fly, say the scientists. It hunted on the ground.

Its body looks like a bird and like a hunting dinosaur. This helps us learn how birds began.

bird

an animal with feathers and wings

fossil

the old remains of a living thing in rock

Jurassic

a time when dinosaurs lived, long ago

fly

to move through the air

hunt

to look for animals to eat

dinosaur

a very old reptile

scientist

a person who studies nature

ground

the earth under our feet

Level 2 - Elementary

A new study in the journal Nature describes a small bird named Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis. It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now southeastern China, in a group of fossils called the Zhenghe Fauna.

The animal weighed about 0.8 kilograms. Scientists say it probably could not fly and hunted on land. It had features of birds and also of predatory dinosaurs like Velociraptor.

One of the researchers said the gap between birds and dinosaurs is smaller than people once thought. The find also suggests that early birds lived in more kinds of places than experts believed.

The paper is dated October 14.

journal

a magazine for scientific papers

species

a kind of living thing

predator

an animal that hunts others

feature

a part or quality of something

gap

a space or difference between two things

researcher

a person who does careful study

lifestyle

the way an animal lives

paper

a report of a study

Level 3 - Intermediate

A paper in Nature dated October 14 describes Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis, a small early bird from the Late Jurassic Zhenghe Fauna of southeastern China. At about 0.8 kilograms, it was a small animal.

The researchers report that the animal appears to have been flightless and probably hunted on land. Its skeleton combines traits of birds with traits of predatory deinonychosaurs, the group that includes Velociraptor.

The lead researcher argued that the morphological gap between birds and dinosaurs is much smaller than previously assumed.

The discovery also adds to evidence that early birds filled a wider range of lifestyles than once recognised. Some were fliers, while others, like this one, may have been ground living hunters.

flightless

unable to fly

trait

a characteristic of a living thing

deinonychosaur

a group of feathered predatory dinosaurs

morphological

related to the shape and structure of a body

assume

to accept as true without proof

recognise

to know or identify

skeleton

the frame of bones in a body

fauna

the animals of a particular place or time

Level 4 - Advanced

A study published in Nature on October 14 describes Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis, a small Late Jurassic bird from China's Zhenghe Fauna. Weighing roughly 0.8 kilograms, the animal appears to have been flightless and may have been a terrestrial predator.

Its skeleton blends avian characteristics with those of predatory deinonychosaurs, the lineage that includes Velociraptor, and that mosaic makes it difficult to place neatly on either side of the traditional boundary between birds and dinosaurs.

The lead researcher contends that the morphological chasm separating the two groups is considerably narrower than previously believed, a view reinforced by a growing catalogue of feathered fossils from the region.

Beyond anatomy, the finding implies that early avialans explored an unexpectedly broad ecological repertoire, with some taking to the air while others abandoned flight and pursued prey on the ground.

terrestrial

living on land

avian

relating to birds

lineage

a line of descent from common ancestors

mosaic

a mixture of different elements

contend

to argue or maintain

chasm

a deep gap

avialan

a member of the group containing birds and their closest relatives

repertoire

a range of things someone or something can do