A FOSSIL of the earliest young bird has been found by palaeontologists, fuelling the debate over whether birds evolved from dinosuars or other reptiles, writes Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent.
The chick lived 135 million years ago in the Pyrenees in Spain.
It is the second discovery in a fortnight that scientists claim boosts the bird-dinosaur link. Last week, an Argentinian group announced the discovery of a 90 million-year-old dinosaur that folded its forelimbs like wings.
Researchers, reporting their discovery in Science, say the 4-inch bird existed just 10 million years after Archaeopteryx, the first undisputed bird.
It has an odd combination of dinosaur and bird characteristics. Its skull looks like that of a dinosaur, yet it has tiny holes on the surface of its bones that are almost identical to those found in birds today. Its wings were as sophisticated as those of modern birds.
Dr Laurence Witmer of Ohio University, said: "This provides more evidence that birds have their origins in the small meat-eating dinosaurs".
Opponents of the theory argue that the fossil skull is more like that of an ancient reptile and that the bird lived too late to be significant.
