Archaeopteryx Facts for Kids
AR-kee-OP-ter-ix · its name means “ancient wing”
An early bird with feathered wings, teeth and a long bony tail.
Archaeopteryx had feathers and wings. It also had teeth and a long bony tail. It was a dinosaur and an early bird.
Archaeopteryx had feathers on its wings and tail, just like a bird. But it also had sharp little teeth, claws on its fingers and a long tail full of bones, which birds today do not have. It could probably flap and glide short ways, but it was not as good a flyer as birds are now.
Archaeopteryx lived long, long ago, when this part of Europe was a warm place of islands and lagoons. Its fossils, pressed into fine limestone, even show the shape of its feathers. Birds are living dinosaurs, so scientists call Archaeopteryx both a dinosaur and an early bird. It was found soon after Charles Darwin's book about evolution, and many people saw it as a link between dinosaurs and birds.
Every dinosaur number is scientists’ best guess from bones, so each one says where it came from.
How big was Archaeopteryx?
Archaeopteryx in numbers
| Length (nose to tail) | 20 in50 cm1scientists' estimate |
|---|---|
| Height at the hips | no checked number yet |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| When it lived | 150 million years ago150 million years ago2scientists' estimate |
| What it ate | insects and maybe other small animals |
| Fossils found in | southern Germany, in the fine limestone near the town of Solnhofen |
| What kind | a theropod: a two-legged dinosaur, the group birds came from |
Wow!
- The first fossil of it found was just one feather.
- It had real feathers, but also teeth and a long bony tail.
- Scientists call it both a dinosaur and an early bird.
🦴 Archaeopteryx’s bones
Books about Archaeopteryx, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about Archaeopteryx for free.
Where was the land back then?
The continents were in different places when Archaeopteryx lived, 150 million years ago. Open Planet Earth, pick Drifting continents, and slide back in time to see where the land was.
Its neighbours in time
Where these numbers come from
- Wikidata, from the Natural History Museum's Dino Directory, checked 30 October 2026.
- National Park Service, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Archaeopteryx (Q100196), checked 30 October 2026.
To read more: the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory (see also, not copied).