Introducing Paleontology

This new dinosaur species was one odd duck

Unlike other theropods, its mix of birdlike body parts suggests it took to water like, well, a duck

Halszkaraptor escuilliei

DINO SWIMMER  This birdlike dinosaur, Halszkaraptor escuilliei, probably spent a lot of time in the water. It had flipperlike forelimbs, a long neck for snatching aquatic food, and its upright posture resembles that of short-tailed birds such as ducks.

Lukas Panzarin

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

It may have walked like a duck and swum like a penguin, but a flipper-limbed creature discovered in what is now Mongolia was no bird.