Pronunciation: ar-kay-OP-tear-icks
Meaning: Greek "ancient" "wing"
Image By: David Baccadutre

Additional Credits: Sculpture by Norman Neal Deaton

Birds are descended from dinosaurs. The first birds, Archaeopteryx, were covered with feathers and flew from tree to tree during the Late Jurassic. They differed from their dinosaurian ancestors in a few important features that allowed birds to take flight. The preserved skeleton of the oldest fossil of Archaeopteryx is 150 million years old and even preserves the impressions of feathers.