We like to picture dinosaurs Jurassic Park style, dead-eyed and reptilian in appearance (they’re scarier that way). In more recent years, scientists took not of the relationship between modern birds and dinosaurs and began to wonder if dinosaurs weren’t reptilian at all, but much more birdlike than we imagine them – feathers and all. As it turns out, we might have it both ways according to scientists from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: They found a fossil specimen that appears to have had both feathers and scales.

“I was really amazed when I saw this. We knew that some of the plant-eating ornithischian dinosaurs had simple bristles, and we couldn’t be sure whether these were the same kinds of structures as bird and theropod feathers. Our new find clinches it: all dinosaurs had feathers, or at least the potential to sprout feathers,” said Dr Pascal Godefroit.

Kulindadromeus, as it’s being called, had scales on its shins, tail and muzzle, with short barbs over most of its body and head. It also had groups of more elaborate compound feathers on its arms and legs. The specimen was found at a site called Kulinda on the banks of the Olov River in Siberia.

The feathers themselves were incredibly well-preserved, with visible filament details and growing up to 15 mm in length. For comparison purposes, they appear similar to the softer down feathers found on modern chickens. They believe the scales to be aborted feathers, which would explain why modern birds themselves have scaly legs and feet.

Kulindadromeus was small and herbivorous, measuring just over three feet long with long rear legs, short front legs and a powerful long tail. Scientists now believe that feathers may have been adapted by all dinosaurs, possible as early as the Triassic period. They were likely used for signaling and identification and only adapted for flight much later in history. Smaller dinosaurs were probably covered in feathers, mostly with colourful patterns, and feathers may have been lost as dinosaurs grew up and became larger.