Archaeopteryx is arguably the most important fossil ever discovered, shares Field Museum CEO and President Dr. Julian Siggers.
This is the Field Museums most significant fossil acquisition since SUE theT.
rex, and were thrilled to be able to study the ChicagoArchaeopteryx and to share it with our visitors.
Illustration of Archaeopteryx (Photo: Ville Sinkonnen © Field Museum)
Firstly, the dinosaur is small in size.
It also has hollow bones, including a wishbone, and its feathers are asymmetrical.
Only a dozen other fossils of this late Jurassic critter have been discovered, all in Europe.
Photo: Adrienne Stroup © Field Museum
Like most of those fossils, the Chicago specimen was found in Germany at the Solnhofen limestone deposit.
If you could’t visit our fossilized feathered friend soon, don’t worry.
Starting in September, it will be on permanent exhibition at the Field Museum.
Photo: Delaney Drummond © Field Museum
TheArchaeopteryxis a bird-like dinosaur that lived 150 million years ago in what is now Europe.
Photo: Delaney Drummond © Field Museum
Field Museum staff, including assistant curator Jing Mai O’Conner, PhD., opening up the Archaeopteryx fossil they just received. (Photo:© Field Museum)
Archaeopteryx fossil slab (Photo: Delaney Drummond © Field Museum)
