<p><strong>Name:</strong></p><p>Caudipteryx (Greek for &#34;tail feather&#34;); pronounced cow-DIP-ter-ix</p><p><strong>Habitat:</strong></p><p>Lakesides and riverbeds of Asia</p><p><strong>Historical Period:</strong></p><p>Early Cretaceous (120-130 million years ago)</p><p><strong>Size and Weight:</strong></p><p>About three feet long and 20 pounds</p><p><strong>Diet:</strong></p><p>Plants</p><p><strong>Distinguishing Characteristics:</strong></p><p>Primitive feathers; birdlike beak and feet</p><p> </p><h3>About Caudipteryx</h3><p>If any single creature has conclusively settled the debate about the relationship between birds and dinosaurs, it&#39;s Caudipteryx. The fossils of this turkey-sized dinosaur reveal startlingly birdlike characteristics, including feathers, a short, beaked head, and distinctly avian feet. For all its resemblance to birds, though, paleontologists agree that Caudipteryx was unable to fly--making it an intermediate species between <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-small-feathered-dinosaurs-1093718" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="1">land-bound dinosaurs and flying birds</a>.</p><p>However, not all scientists think that Caudipteryx proves that birds descended from dinosaurs. One school of thought maintains that this creature evolved from a species of bird that gradually lost the ability to fly (the same way penguins gradually evolved from flying ancestors). As with all dinosaurs reconstructed from fossils, it&#39;s impossible to know (at least based on the evidence we now have) exactly where Caudipteryx stood on the dinosaur/bird spectrum.</p>