Ancient bird’s long tail feathers were perfect for a mating dance

New Guinea’s tropical rainforests are home to one of the animal kingdom’s most spectacular courtship rituals, with male birds of paradise prancing about and showing ​off their plumage, hoping to attract a female. But, as a new fossil from China indicates, such behavior in birds may date back ‌to the age of dinosaurs.

Researchers said the fossil discovered in northeastern China of a newly identified pigeon-sized bird species called Plumadraco bankoorum that lived about 121 million years ago...