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The skeleton was unearthed 2 years ago by a commercial paleontologist in Colorado’s fossil-rich Morrison Formation, then put up for auction earlier this year.

“There has never been a study of this kind, ever,” says lead author Martin Qvarnström, a paleontologist at Uppsala University.

Wings may be the obvious choice when studying the connection between dinosaurs and birds, but a pair of Yale paleontologists prefer drumsticks.

For many years, paleontologists have debated what these prehistoric big cats would have looked like based on their fossilized bones.

Even that small outpost is miles from the desert where a dozen paleontologists are hiking, looking for signs of long-ago life.