Microraptor

Microraptor is one of the most extraordinary animals ever discovered. About the size of a crow, it had large feathered wings on both its arms and its legs — four wings in total — making it the smallest known four-winged dinosaur.

For a long time, scientists debated whether Microraptor flapped or glided. The current consensus is that it was primarily a glider, spreading all four wings to soar between trees in the dense forests of Early Cretaceous China. Its feathers were iridescent — preserved melanosomes show it likely shimmered with a blue-black sheen, like a modern starling.

Microraptor's diet was surprisingly varied. Fossilized stomach contents have revealed fish, lizards, and small birds — meaning this tiny animal was an active and versatile predator that hunted across multiple environments.

Microraptor belongs to the dromaeosaurid family — the same group as Velociraptor — but it represents a separate evolutionary experiment in flight. Birds didn't descend from Microraptor specifically, but it shows that winged, gliding dinosaurs evolved multiple times.