A fossil feather from the age of dinosaurs may explain why only some birds survived

An extremely well preserved fossil feather could reveal why some birds survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid, and others did not.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/10186x3971+0+0/resize/10186x3971!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2Fa2%2F86b79eed4041a812789ac1a341d4%2Ffull-feather-200x.jpg' alt='This fossilized feather dates back 66 million years to the late Cretaceous. "It is, without a doubt, the best feather we've ever found from the age of dinosaurs," says Jingmai O'Connor, an associate curator at the Field Museum of Natural History.'/><p>An extremely well preserved fossil feather could reveal why some birds survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid, and others did not.<br><br></p><p>(Image credit: Nate Carroll<br>)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5963519' />