Since 1961, when the first Archaeopteryx fossil was unearthed in Bavarian limestone in 1961, the original early bird has never stopped to amaze paleontologists.

The Earth’s oldest-known bird, the Archaeopteryx is a blend of primitive dinosaur traits with modern bird characteristics.

The bird has long fascinated scientists but, none of the specimens found over the years had given a comprehensive view of its plumage leading some experts to question the flying capability of the bird.

Amidst questions of whether the Archaeopteryx could even fly at all, scientists have found a fossil of the early bird that reveals whole plumage in great detail including a feather arrangement fully capable of flight and curious “feather trousers” on the legs. The Archaeopteryx’s plumage resembled today’s birds even though the bird is believed to have lived 150 million years ago.

The fossil is so well preserved owing to the fossil’s fine-grained limestone, formed in an ancient lagoon. The best-preserved fossil of Archaeopteryx ever found was discovered by a private collector in northern Bavaria in Germany.

Scientists have described that the fossil displays contour feathers – the basic vaned, quill-like feathers of a bird – covered its entire body up to the head as in modern birds. The shafts of the wing feathers were comparable in strength to those of modern birds and the plumage of the hind limbs looked like that of modern birds of prey.

The new fossil shows that the Archaeopteryx, the crow-sized bird with primitive traits like teeth, a long bony tail and the absence of a bony, keeled sternum where flight muscles attach, was completely capable of flight.