Yi qi was a Jurassic dinosaur — and may have been the closest thing to a dragon we could ever imagine.
Yi qi roamed the treetops about 160 million years ago. The specimen is known from just a single fossil discovered by a Chinese farmer in 2007, eventually classified in 2015. Yi qi was placed in the scansoriopterygids family, a group of possibly arboreal dinosaurs. The fossil is currently kept at the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, on display for public viewing.
With bat-like wings formed from a series of membranes interconnecting its long fingers, this dinosaur could have easily been mistaken for a dragon. As a result, scientists named it Yi qi, which in Mandarin Chinese means “strange wing”. It was estimated to be small, weighing just under a pound.
Yi had a short head and blunt nose, similar to a bat, with teeth that were forward slanting, angling outwards.
Despite its namesake, scientists have determined that Yi qi was incapable of flight. Most likely, it could only glide into order to capture its prey and flee from predators.
Yi qi was identified as having small, stiff feathers that covered the majority of its body. But unlike other known dinosaurs, Yi qi had planes resulting from a skin membrane as opposed to flight feathers.
These characteristics make it a significant specimen in the history of evolution as its wings differ from any other prehistoric bird relative yet discovered.
Video:
