Sinosauropteryx

The first non-avian dinosaur found with preserved feathers, Sinosauropteryx prima transformed scientific understanding of dinosaur skin coverings when it was described in 1996. This small carnivorous theropod, about a meter long and near 600 grams, was coated in simple filament-like proto-feathers rather than the vaned feathers of birds. Later chemical analysis of its fossilized pigments revealed a reddish-brown coat and a boldly striped tail, among the first color reconstructions for any dinosaur. Ji Qiang and Ji Shu-An reported it from Liaoning Province, China, whose Early Cretaceous ash deposits, roughly 145 to 100 million years ago, have since yielded many feathered dinosaurs.