Fossilized feathers of an extinct bird show it molted differently than modern birds.
The prehistoric bird lost its feathers all at once, while many modern birds molt in waves.
There doesn't seem to be a singular reason why modern birds' ancestors survived and the others went extinct, O'Connor said in a statement.
But it was also born with a full set of flying feathers, a trait found in certain types of modern precocial birds.
O'Connor thinks developing a better understanding of molting and how it evolved could have important implications for modern birds.
Persons:
Jingmai O'Connor, enantiornithines, O'Connor, would've, enantiornithine, enantiornithine would've, Yu Chen, I'm
Organizations:
Service, Field Museum
Locations:
Wall, Silicon