All Feathered

Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus (Runner of Kulinda + the Russian subject of Zabaykalsky Krai) was a Jurassic ornithischian, an herbivore, and was found in Russia and described in 2014 by Godefroit et al. These are all rather uninteresting facts; however, Kulindadromeus is a very important dinosaur. This dinosaur was discovered with traces of its integument evident with the fossil. That integument is consistent with the structure of protofeathers that have been discovered in a number of Coelurosaurian dinosaurs, early birds, and dromaeosaurs. The discovery of feathers in a non-avian line dinosaur indicates that the protofeather may have been a characteristic that was basal to all dinosaurs and not just the dinosaur family tree that eventually took flight.

©Nobu Tamura