Byline: Associated Press
A duck-sized dinosaur fossil unearthed in China last year sports a downy coat from head to tail, bolstering evidence that feathers arose first for insulation and not flight, scientists report.
The fossil, which will likely stoke the debate over the origin of birds, is the most complete of several found with featherlike features in China in recent years. It is dated between 126 million and 147 million years old.
Lying in a slab of petrified mud, the skeleton is fringed with feathery impressions that researchers said were left by tufts of down and primitive feathers. One scientist said the downy coat suggests that it was …
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