Flying fossil: Britain to send 'earliest known bird' abroad for exhibition!

New Delhi: A 147 million-year-old fossil, that established the link between dinosaurs and birds, has been one of Britain's most prized possessions, sitting in the country's Natural History Museum.

Now, the museum is sending the skeleton overseas for the first time. The archaeopteryx was discovered in Germany encased in limestone in 1861. It shows characteristics of both early birds and dinosaurs, with feathers, claws and teeth.

The museum is sending it to Japan as part of its biggest-ever global exhibition. Known as the "London specimen," it will go on show with 300 other exhibits at Tokyo's Museum of Nature and Science for three months from March 18.

The British museum's Professor Paul Barrett says the fossil's "lasting historical legacy" is that it establishes birds as dinosaurs.

It's one of only 11 full-body examples of the archaeopteryx to have been formally identified.

(With PTI inputs)