National Geographic: New Species of Bat Wing Dinosaur Discovered

[Michael]

My inner nerd and 8 year old is always fascinated by stuff like this. Nor surprisingly, my love for dinosaurs is largely what fueled my passion for geckos!

New species of bat-wing dinosaur discovered
The rare fossil find from China is the best preserved example yet of this very odd dinosaur group.

More than 160 million years ago, the forests of ancient China were home to a bizarre predator: a tiny dinosaur that glided from tree to tree with leathery, bat-like wings. The newfound fossil, unveiled today in the journal Nature, is just the second feathered dinosaur found with signs of large membranes on its wings. Fitting, then, that the animal's newly assigned genus name is Ambopteryx: Latin for “both wings.”

“The most exciting thing, for me, is that it shows that some dinosaurs evolved very different structures to become volant,” or capable of some form of flight, says lead study author Min Wang, a paleontologist at China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

Ambopteryx is now the best known fossil of a scansoriopterygid (scan-soary-OP-teh-rigid), an oddball group of nonavian dinosaurs that includes Yi qi, the first dinosaur ever found with bat-like wings. That fossil find—announced in 2015 by study coauthor Xing Xu, the IVPP's deputy director—reshaped how scientists understood the evolution of flight.

More here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...w-species-bat-wing-dinosaur-discovered-china/

 

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

This is so cool! Were you also the little boy who played with dinosaur toys, creepy crawlers, and other rubber or plastic reptiles and amphibians?

 

[Michael]

This is so cool! Were you also the little boy who played with dinosaur toys, creepy crawlers, and other rubber or plastic reptiles and amphibians?

People often ask how I got into geckos, and my response goes something like this:

When I was a kid, I didn't really watch cartoons or action shows - I watched Discovery Channel and later, Animal Planet. I was always wanted to watch and read as much animal content as I could. All of my toys were dinosaurs, I had dinosaur shirts and bed sheets... if it was an animal or dinosaur, I had it. So, the progression to geckos was kind of natural. I broke both of my wrists when I was 9 and my dad came home with two green iguanas as a "feel better" present. I've had reptiles as pets ever since!

 

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

People often ask how I got into geckos, and my response goes something like this:

When I was a kid, I didn't really watch cartoons or action shows - I watched Discovery Channel and later, Animal Planet. I was always wanted to watch and read as much animal content as I could. All of my toys were dinosaurs, I had dinosaur shirts and bed sheets... if it was an animal or dinosaur, I had it. So, the progression to geckos was kind of natural. I broke both of my wrists when I was 9 and my dad came home with two green iguanas as a "feel better" present. I've had reptiles as pets ever since!

I feel like we would have been best friends when we were kids. I watched a lot of cartoons and movies, but also a lot of animal planet and discover channel. Also spend a lot of time outside exploring and capturing bugs and amphibians. I drew lots of pictures of animals and had all sorts of wildlife books and eye spy type books dealing with identifying animals. I was also a huge dinosaur fan, but had more reptile themed toys. I remember when I was probably 5 years old and in pre-school, I would always gravitate towards the giant toy dinosaurs whenever we had free time. Also was a huge fan of The Land Before Time movies lol.

By the way, that is such an awesome thing that your dad did! Who knew that that would be the begining of your journey to where you are now with reptiles. Thanks for sharing your story.