Earliest birdlike animal had feet like dinosaurs

WASHINGTON – A new analysis of archaeopteryx, the earliest known birdlike animal, shows it had feet like dinosaurs – a finding that adds weight to the belief that the birds frequenting backyard feeders today are descendants of mighty ancient carnivores.

While not all scientists agree, many consider archaeopteryx the first bird, since it had wings and was the first fossil found with feathers.

Details have been lacking on the animals, however, since only a few fossil specimens have been found.

The new fossil, reported in today’s issue of the journal Science, shows that the first toe was not reversed in archaeopteryx, as is the case on current birds, according to a team led by Gerald Mayr of Research Institute Schenkenberg in Frankfurt, Germany.

Lack of the reversed toe would hamper the animal’s ability to perch like current birds, the researchers said.

On the other hand, it’s second toe could be extended, like those of theropod – beast-footed – dinosaurs, a group that included T. rex.

Archaeopteryx was considerably smaller, however, close to the size of a magpie. The new example lived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria.