Earliest-Known Winged Mammal Relatives Discovered In China

[truebluefan]

When you think about the Jurassic Period, you probably think of massive, lumbering dinosaurs.

But now scientists say there were also gliders — early relatives of mammals, akin to today's flying squirrels – whizzing through the trees.

Fossils of two glider species, found in the Tiaojishan Formation in northeastern China, are particularly well-preserved, so the impressions left of skin membranes and hairs immediately show they are gliders, University of Chicago Paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo tells The Two-Way.

read more http://www.npr.org/2017/08/09/542078677/earliest-known-winged-mammal-relatives-discovered-in-china