An ancient dinosaur-era
bird turns out to have two tails, one maybe for flying while the other
for showing off. Paleontologists suggest that the early bird gets two
tails? A 120-million-year-old bird sported a
long tail and a second, unexpected tail frond, the discovery points to a
intricate evolutionary path for the tails we see in birds today. The 2nd
oldest known bird, Jeholornis, lived in what is today China, along with
a trove of other feathered
dinosaurs uncovered in the region over the last decade. Fossils explain
that Jeholornis was turkey-size, had claws on its wing forelimbs, and
possessed 3 small teeth in its lower jaw, and thought to sport only a
long fan feathered tail at its back end. Therefore;
paleontologists are claiming discovery of a second tail frond adorning
the bird. It is believed that 'two-tail' plumage of Jeholornis is
unique. Of 11 Jeholornis fossils that retain evidence of ancient
plumage, six have signs of this frond of eleven feathers,
which would have jutted above the bird's back at a jaunty, upright
angle in a "visually striking" manner.
Visibly the display
aspect of the frond would have been irrefutable. It calls to mind living
birds, even peacocks, which display broad plumes of feathers. In
peacocks and other birds, such feathery skin textures
are more for attracting the attention of potential mates than for any
functional purpose. Male birds are the ones with the striking plumage,
and perhaps only one sex of Jeholornis sported the eye-catching tail
fronds.
Jeholornis is not
thought to be directly related to modern birds, which seem to have
evolved from a different line of early avians. The tail frond may have
played a stabilizing role in the flight of these early
birds and that if the arrangement of feathers had proven advantageous
enough, modern birds might have evolved to sport such two tailed
features. The fronds are flattening to offer a streamlined appearance
when the bird was in flight. Other researchers aren't
convinced the newly discovered tail frond played much of a role in
aviation, however. Feathering in the new specimens is quite interesting;
it could have been a peculiarity of the one species, as the authors
note. Perhaps the frond simply evolved as an easy-to-notice
"sexual display" flaunted by these early birds