Confuciusornis. Artwork of the prehistoric bird Confuciusornis which lived around 125-120 million years ago. Discovered in 1993 in Liaoning, China, specimens had bird-like wings and feathers, short tail bone with long tail feathers and a toothless beak. The wings possessed small claws. The large number of fossils discovered suggests that it lived in large flocks. This species and numerous other feathered fossils support the theory that modern day birds evolved from prehistoric theropod dinosaurs.