Scientists have unearthed fossil evidence of feathered dinosaurs in Southern Germany - findings that could alter scientists' knowledge of dinosaurs' appearance.
The fossil, Sciurumimus albersdoerferi, bore the imprint of a theropod dinosaur, and was believed to live around 150 million years ago. Researchers stated these dinosaurs, although feathered, were not related to birds.
"This is a surprising find from the cradle of feathered dinosaur work, the very formation where the first feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx was collected over 150 years ago," said Dr Mark Norell, American paleontologist and chair of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History.
Norell also worked with researchers from Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie and Ludwig Maximilians University.
Theropod dinosaurs were bipedal, and scientists observed this group had feathers. But the feathers were only documented among a subgroup of theropods called the coelurosaurs. The newly-discovered fossil of the Sciurumimus was an exemption because this belonged to the group, megalosaur.
"All of the feathered predatory dinosaurs known so far represent close relatives of birds," stated paleontologist Oliver Rauhut, of the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie.
The fossil was believed to belong to a young Sciuruminus. Researchers found the remains in a limestone formation in northern Bavaria, which showed the dinosaur's entire body covered with feathers.
The feathers were not the only remarkable characteristics of the Sciurumimusis - analysts discovered its skeleton was one of the most complete preservations of a dinosaur unearthed in Europe. Since it was a baby dinosaur, it also provided a glimpse on the body structure of younger dinosaurs.
Further details of this study were published in the July 2 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
