One of the first birds on Earth may have preferred running to flying

A nearly complete fossil dug up in Fujian Province, China, belongs to a crow-sized bird that lived about 150 million years ago, about as far back as birds go. The new species, named Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis and described in the journal Nature, had wings about a third shorter than its legs — proportions that today belong to ground birds like pheasants. It mixed bird features, like a bird-like pelvis, with dinosaur leftovers, like big serrated teeth and a long bony tail. Lead researcher Min Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences says it may have run after prey on the ground and flown only in short bursts, like a roadrunner.