Dinosaur feathers revise image as lizards

• Tweet

EICHSTATT, Germany, July 3 (UPI) -- A well-preserved squirrel-tailed dinosaur fossil found in Germany suggests all dinosaurs had some sort of feathers, a researcher said.

The 150-million-year-old fossil found in a Bavarian limestone quarry dubbed Sciurumimus albersdoerferi was likely a young megalosaur, a group of large, two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs, National Geographic reported Monday.

"I was overwhelmed when I first saw it. Even apart from the preservation of feathers, this is certainly one of the most beautiful dinosaur fossils ever found," paleontologist Oliver Rauhut said.

Previously, paleontologists have found feathers only on coelurosaurs. Sciurumimus is from a different branch of the dinosaur family tree, leading Rauhut to suggest all dinosaurs had some sort of feathering.

"Probably all dinosaurs were feathered," Rauhut was quoted as saying, "and we should say good bye to the familiar image of the overgrown lizards."

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.