Archaeopteryx studies have been from 10 fossil specimens. They fit under the "dinosaur" category even though it's disputed that the animal was an obvious 100% prehistoric bird. The first discovery was only a feather in 1860. It was described much later by Christian Herman. All further discoveries were in the region of Germany . The Archaeopteryx had a long lizard-like tail, wings, and was covered with feathers. It also had a very large sized brain for the size of it. 1/3 of the brain area was related to the vision though. Hearing and muscle coordination had been found with the brain as well. In 2004 scientists used a CT scan to determine this evidence and were very successful. After the study it was clear that the Archaeopteryx was a very smart species with very efficient senses such as hearing, vision, balance, speed, and intelligence.

The Archaeopteryx was roughly the size of a medium sized modern bird of today. It has very broad wings and they were rounded each end. This would be why many Paleontologists considered this species a bird and not a dinosaur, but Archaeopteryx did have a lot of reptile features as well as a good argument that, in fact, it was a dinosaur. It had a long ascending process of the ankle bone, interdential plates, and long chevrons in the tail.

Archaeopteryx in flight is no myth. It most likely could fly as its bone structure was defiantly created for flight. Because of the lack of boney breastbone says that it may not have been a very strong flyer, but just could probably glide as far distance using the wind for its height control. Also, because of its strong shoulder bones it could not have lifted its wings above it's back, so this shows that Archaeopteryx was not fully adapted to flight. Shoulder bones it could not have lifted its wings above its back, so this shows that Archaeopteryx was not fully adapted to flight.