Earliest feathered dinosaur fossil found in China

According to Nature of October 1, Chinese researchers have unearthed the fossil of a bird-like dinosaur with four wings in northeastern China, which is regarded as a missing link in dinosaurs' evolution into birds.

About the size of a chicken, the fossil's a total body length is less than 50cm (20 inches) and a skull is about 6cm long.

The well-preserved fossil of the "Anchiornis Huxleyi" roamed the earth some 160 million years ago, in a geological formation in China's northeastern Liaoning province.

It is believed that the fossil is the oldest bird-like dinosaur reported so far, and older than Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird.