Scansoriopteryx - Perch - Day 20

Scansoriopteryx heilmanni is currently only known from the fossil of a hatchling, so exact adult proportions are still unknown. However, like most baby animals today, juvenile dinosaurs had large heads, large eyes, large feet, and short snouts relative to their body length, so estimating the proportions of the adult isn't impossible. One unusual feature, unique to the scansoriopterygidae, is that the third finger on the hand is extremely long. Most dinosaurs have a medium to short first finger, a long second finger, and then a shorter third finger. Czerkas (of the same museum I posted about earlier) suggests that this long third finger, plus its generally very long arms (as compared to the legs) may mean this family of dinosaurs were adept climbers, though others have speculated that the long third finger is an adaptation for fishing out insects from crevices in bark or rocks, like the aye-aye of today.

Wow, 20 drawings already! This one is awfully late, I know, but it's still the 28th here in Pacific Time. Moving complete, for now.