The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World: The Definitive Dinosaur Encyclopedia with Stunning Illustrations, Embark on a Prehistoric Quest!

by Steve Brusatte

Before me was one of the most beautiful fossils I had ever seen. It was a skeleton, about the size of a mule, its chocolate-brown bones standing out from the dull gray limestone surrounding it. A dinosaur for sure, its steak-knife teeth, pointy claws, and long tail leaving no doubt that it was a close cousin of Jurassic Park’s villainous Velociraptor. But this was no ordinary dinosaur. Its bones were light and hollow, its legs long and skinny like a heron’s, its slender skeleton the hallmark of an active, dynamic, fast-moving animal. And not only were there bones, but there were feathers covering the entire body. Bushy feathers that looked like hair on the head and neck, long branching feathers on the tail, and big quill pens on the arms, lined together and layered over each other to form wings. This dinosaur looked just like a bird. About a year later, Junchang and I described this skeleton as a new species, which we called Zhenyuanlong suni.