Archaeopteryx: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Archaeopteryx lithographica

Photos and Videos

Archaeopteryx skeleton

Illustration of Archaeopteryx, a small feathered dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, showing bird-like wings with clawed fingers, sharp teeth, and a long feathered tail with a bony core. Measurement bars above indicate its length and wingspan of about 2 feet.

Diagram showing evolutionary relationships among archosaurs, dinosaurs, modern crocodiles, the small dinosaur Troodon, the ancestral bird Archaeopteryx, and a modern chicken, with arrows tracing lineage from archosaurs to both crocodiles and birds.

Side-by-side illustration comparing a modern black-and-white bird on the left with a feathered dinosaur, Archaeopteryx, on the right, both with wings spread.

Dr. Jingmai O'Connor smiles and gestures toward a fossil of Archaeopteryx on display at the Field Museum, with exhibit text visible in the background.

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Topics

Late Jurassic Epoch feathered dinosaur theropod Giganotosaurus Carcharodontosaurus Confuciusornis Caudipteryx Ornithomimus Struthiomimus Did Dinosaurs Really Have Feathers?How Do We Know That Dinosaurs May Have Had Feathers?

Key People

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John Ostrom

American paleontologist

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Sir Gavin de Beer

British zoologist

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