Home Museum Tour – Get to Know This ‘Gansu Bird’
Original title: Home museum tour –
Come and get to know this 'Gansu Bird'
Gansu Bird reconstruction
Gansu Bird fossil
Fish-bird reconstruction
Have you ever seen bird fossils that lived with dinosaurs at the same time?
To know, the first middle-aged bird fossil discovered in China came out from Gansu Yumen City, which is why it is named – Yumen Gansu Bird. This bird, which lived with dinosaurs, is now collected in the Gansu Geological Museum.
Small knowledge
Present-day birds and
Paleontologists believe that birds evolved into two major branches shortly after their origin. One is, with its kinds and number at that time all dominated, but it went extinct with dinosaurs in the end in the late Cretaceous period. The other branch includes all present-day birds and the common ancestors of all present-day birds, the.
In 1981, British birdwatcher Walker C.A. studied a group of Cretaceous late bird fossils discovered in the Salta Province of Argentina, and found that the shoulder bones and ulna bones of the shoulder girdle had a jointing way that was exactly opposite to that of present-day birds, so it was named.
Hello everyone, I am Yumen Gansu Bird, the scientific name is 'Gansus yumenensis Hou & Liu, 1984'. Isn't the name very fashionable? I was excavated in the Changma Township of Yumen City, Gansu, in Shenjiawan Village northwest, when I was discovered, only an incomplete left hind limb was preserved, including the tibia-fibula and metatarsal bones, and four complete toe bones. My name was named by paleornithologist Hou Lianhai and Liu Zhi-cheng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Paleontology and Human Evolution Institute in 1984.
Some students may ask, you can't be proud of just being proud of the name, how cool are you? Okay, let me show you the evaluation of researchers for me!
When I was named, I represented the first middle-aged fossil bird in China and the second oldest bird in the world, only younger than the Archaeopteryx, and it is considered to be the earliest representative of shore and aquatic birds.
My discovery opened the curtain for middle-aged bird research in China, which has attracted widespread attention from the academic community worldwide. Since 2006, Chinese scientists have reported the discovery of dozens of my new fossils in the Changma region, which enriches people's understanding of the bone features and lifestyle of this bird that lived in the early Cretaceous period. In 2006, the Discovery science channel did a special report on me; In 2008, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States published 'Science, Evolution and Creationism' (Science, Evolution and Creationism) book, citing two bird fossil specimens to illustrate the evolution of biology, and I am one of them.
After research by paleontologists, I belong to , and have a close relationship with the fish-bird and Twilight bird of North America Late Cretaceous period, it is a amphibian-bird. My size is about the same as modern pigeons, and has many common features with modern birds. My forelimb morphology and feather features show that I have strong flying ability; my hind limbs and webbed feet details show that I may have driven by feet or wings and feet, it is a diving bird. In addition, the degree of hollow in my bones is low, so it is heavier and more cumbersome. People think I may feed on fish, insects, and occasionally plants. Although there are gastroliths in some parts of my specimens, but because all my fossils discovered now have not preserved the head, so it cannot determine my diet structure.
Source: Lanzhou Morning Post
Source: Lanzhou Morning Post
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