It is difficult to preserve thin and fragile bones of birds. Now, a new discovery of fossil of a bird with long arrow-like tail feathers has created excitement among Brazilian researchers; it is the first bird of its kind and, therefore, the discovery is also unique.

The discovery was made in the Araripe Basin of Brazil; thousands of fossils have already been discovered here. Here, fossils of turtles, fish, insects and flying reptiles from the Cretaceous period have been found.

The bird’s length was found to be nearly 5.5 inches. Hummingbird also has approximately the same length and nearly 3.1 inches of that length was because of tail feathers. According to researchers, the feathers were not used for balance or flight; in place of that the tail feathers were most likely used for some sort of visual communication like sexual display.

Such birds have been found in northeastern China; however, the one found is the first to be discovered in the supercontinent of Gondwana. Laurasia and Gondwana were formed when Pangaea, which had all of Earth’s present continents, broke apart. Gondwana contained Africa, Antarctica, South America, Australia and India.

The researchers wrote in a report published in the journal Nature Communications, “The specimen constitutes the most complete avian specimen of Early Cretaceous age from (the prehistoric continent of) Gondwana; more importantly, it sheds light on the anatomical structure and probable function of the peculiar rachis-dominated tail feathers. Notably, the new specimen preserves feathers in relief”.