Scientists with the utmost precision to recreate the look of a dinosaur
Lasers have helped open up invisible to the eye details contour of the feathered reptile that lived 160 million years ago. According to scientists, they were struck by the remarkable resemblance of the ancient dinosaurs with birds.
Anthony Zurcher
Bi-bi-si, Washington
As concluded paleontologists, dinosaur that lived 160 million years ago had legs like a chicken, and the upper extremity of the feathered lizard was more like the wings.
Using powerful lasers, scientists were able to see a more accurate picture of this ancient animal.
Their work will help to understand how ancient monsters that once inhabited our planet, learned to fly. It happened, according to experts, more than 150 million years ago.
According to Michael Pittman from the University of Hong Kong, this study was a turning point in our understanding of the origin of birds.
“In this work we used a powerful laser to see the outline of the subtler soft tissue preserved along with the bones of anchiornis — the feathered dinosaur,” the scientist said.
The research team used a technique called fluorescence stimulated by the laser. This technique will allow you to see the remains of soft tissues that are not visible in daylight, but in contact with them, of the laser beam begin to glow.
This method involves laser scanning of the studied object and simultaneous camera shooting long exposures.
Dr. Stephen Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh who was not involved with this project, says that colleagues from Hong Kong discovered the amazing evidence of the extraordinary similarities of ancient birds.
“In the course of this study were used high-power lasers, and they managed to get the best at the moment, the image of the wings and the body contour of a dinosaur,’ said the doctor Brusett in interview Bi-bi-si. — Laser images show that these dinosaurs were not birds, but had wings, remarkably similar to the wings of modern birds until the soft tissues”.
Anchiornis in Greek means “nearly bird”.
This small lizard lived on the territory of modern China during the late Jurassic period, approximately at the same time, when, as expected, appeared on Earth birds in the modern sense of the word.
Anchiornis was covered with feathers and, it seems, had black and white stripes and bright orange crest on the head.
However the unanswered question is, could anchiornis to fly or at least float in the air.
A study published in the journal Nature Communications.