China once was home to rare chicken-sized dinosaurs which lived near water sources

The imprint of a different and rare kind of dinosaurs in China has left palaeontologists puzzled.

The footprints frozen in time are said to belong to chicken-sized dinosaurs who used to spend time near a water source because of which the footprints were created by them unknowingly.

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These footprints have emerged as key evidence that will help palaeontologists solve the puzzle of the evolution of dinosaurs to birds.

All about chicken-sized dinosaurs

The chicken-sized dinosaurs had three toes and were not bigger than a human's thumb. They were part of the group of tiniest dinosaurs known as Minisauripus.

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This tiniest group of dinosaurs were discovered only because of their fossilised footprints.

For the "first time" the fossilised footprints of chicken-sized dinosaurs have been discovered by scientists in northwest China (Gansu area), as reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). This discovery also explains a lot of things about the evolution of birds.

The Minisauripus are not a direct ancestor of birds, however, they are an important key in the evolution process.

These bipedal dinosaurs roamed on Earth in the early Cretaceous era, when there was relatively warm temperature.

In this period, new dinosaur groups emerged on Earth which included Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops.

The China University of Geosciences researchers made the stunning discovery of five tiny, three-toed fossil footprints which were between 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 inches to 1.18 inches) in size.

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“We estimate that the body length [of the dinosaurs] is about 25cm (9.84 inches), but the tail should account for at least half of the length,” said Xing Lida, who is a palaeontologist and associate professor at the university, while speaking to South China Morning Post.

According to the researchers, this finding was important as it emphasised the diversity of the dinosaurs and also helped in understanding how dinosaurs evolved into birds. In the process of evolution of dinosaurs, miniaturisation was an important stage.

Xing emphasised that the new discovery will help scientists gain insight into the evolution of birds.

“The miniaturisation of dinosaurs was a key factor in their evolution into birds, and it was a very important evolutionary event,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)