Archaeopteryx (above) will probably have to relinquish its role as the grand daddy of modern birds.
Joel Kontinen
Recently, a fossil found in a Chinese museum might shake up the Darwinian view of the avian family tree and make the dino to bird connection less credible. The newcomer is a half a metre (20 inches) long feathered creature. Its discoverer, palaeontologist Pascal Godefroit, regards it as a real bird.
Aurornis xui, as the fossil is called, is assumed to be ”150-160 million years old, which would make it older than Archaeopteryx.
However, some researchers still think that Archaeopteryx is the earliest true bird.
It was difficult for birds to evolve from dinosaurs, if even evolutionists think that they are at least as old as dinos.
Source:
Woolston, Chris. 2013. New contender for first bird. Feathered creature shakes up avian family tree. Nature News (29 May).
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