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Microraptor had four wings - and was iridescent black like a crow.

Imagine a tiny raptor with feathers on its arms AND its legs.

2 min read
Microraptor had four wings - and was iridescent black like a crow.
THE FULL STORY

Microraptor is one of the strangest dinosaurs ever found. It was small - about 2.5 feet long - and it had four feathered wings: a pair on its arms, like you’d expect, and another pair on its legs, which you really wouldn’t expect.

Scientists are still arguing about exactly how it used those leg-wings. The best guess is that Microraptor glided between trees, using all four wings together like a tiny biplane, or maybe tucked its leg-wings back during flapping flight and unfolded them for landing.

We even know what color Microraptor was. Scientists looking at preserved cells in its feathers found microscopic capsules that match the iridescent black of modern crows and ravens. So a real-life Microraptor would have looked like a tiny four-winged raptor flashing iridescent blue-black, gliding silently from one tree to another. Picture a velociraptor crossed with a magpie.

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