Scientists debate whether Archaeopteryx was a non-avian dinosaur or a bird. Most fossils show the impressions of feathers nearly identical to those of modern birds.

Recent studies of a skeleton at the Field Museum in Chicago indicate that Archaeopteryx had tertiary feathers (the feathers on modern birds needed for flight). This tells us that it might have been one of the first dinosaurs capable of powered flight and provides further proof that birds are the last surviving dinosaurs.