Bird or dino?

Feathers fly in first bird debate

A chicken-sized dinosaur fossil found in China may have overturned a long-held theory about the origin of birds.

For 150 years, a species called Archaeopteryx has been regarded as the first true bird, representing a major evolutionary step away from dinosaurs.

But the new fossil suggests this creature was just another feathery dinosaur and not the significant link that palaeontologists had believed.

Its discovery and features are reported in the journal Nature.