Wang Yuan, one of the authors of From Fish to Human: The March of Vertebrate Life in China.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Another important discussion in the book is about feathered dinosaurs found in the Jehol Biota of the early Cretaceous in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Liaoning and Hebei provinces, where-due to special geological conditions－soft tissue can be seen clearly in fossils even after more than 100 million years.

Dinosaurs, in a traditional view, have scales, but some fossils found in China suggest the creatures had feathers as well, such as the smaller,more primitive cousins of Tyrannosaurs－Yutyrannus huali and Sinosauropteryx prima. Although they had feathers, they both were still dinosaurs and the feathers on their bodies were not used for flying.

The feathers on these dinosaurs are similar in material to birds' but differ in shape, Sullivan says.

"Unlike flake-like feathers, or pennaceous feathers that can overlap and form an aerodynamic surface, filamentous feathers on those dinosaurs could not be used to fly," Sullivan says.

The discovery of Sinosauropteryx fossils helped to prove that dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds, rather than merely being descended from a common ancestor.

Contact the writer at yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn