Drag to rotate Yi qi, scroll or pinch to zoom, and click a body part - the head, body, wing, or leg - to read what fossils tell us about it. The panel beside the model carries the real figures.
Yi qi was tiny - turn on the human figure to compare a 1.8 m person with a wingspan of only about 60 cm, roughly the size of a large pigeon.
Yi qi was a dinosaur, not a pterosaur or a bat, even though its wing membrane looked like theirs. The colors and soft outline here are an artistic reconstruction; fossils preserve bone, not soft tissue or color. This model is not a fossil-accurate skeleton. The measurements in the panel follow published paleontology figures.
Yi qi 3D Viewer
This page renders Yi qi as a 3D model you can spin in the browser - drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom, toggle a 1.8 m person beside it for scale, and click the head, body, a wing, or a leg to read a fact about that part.
Yi qi is a small dinosaur described from a single fossil found in Hebei, China, and it is famous for one unusual feature: instead of feathered wings like other feathered dinosaurs, it had a skin membrane held out by a rod-like bone at the wrist, the same basic idea bats and flying squirrels use. No other known dinosaur has this wrist rod. It lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic, roughly 166 to 159 million years ago, and belongs to a small, poorly known family called scansoriopterygids - Yi qi is the only member of that family known to have this membrane wing.
Despite the bat-like wings, Yi qi was a true dinosaur, not a pterosaur and not a bat - both of those comparisons describe how the wing worked, not what the animal was. It was tiny: wingspan is commonly cited at about 60 cm, and its skull was under 4 cm long. Published weight estimates vary from roughly 0.38 to 0.52 kg across different sources, often rounded to under 0.4 kg - about the weight of a large pigeon. Its jaws carried a small number of forward-pointing teeth, and its short, deep skull suggests it hunted insects up in tree branches rather than on the ground, though the exact diet is inferred rather than directly preserved. Yi qi's wings work on a different principle from the feathered gliding wings on the four limbs of Microraptor - two very different dinosaur solutions to gliding or flying.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | about 60 cm |
| Weight | roughly 0.38-0.52 kg (published estimates vary; often rounded to under 0.4 kg) |
| Skull length | under 4 cm |
| When it lived | about 166-159 million years ago (Middle-Late Jurassic) |
| Diet | Likely insects (inferred from skull shape and habitat) |
| What it was | A dinosaur (scansoriopterygid) - not a pterosaur or a bat |
The fossil was found in the Tiaojishan Formation near Mutoudeng in Hebei Province, China, and was named and described in 2015 by Xu Xing, Zheng Xiaoting, Corwin Sullivan and colleagues, published in the journal Nature. The genus name Yi means "wing" and the species name qi means "strange" in Mandarin - together, roughly "strange wing".
Everything runs on your device with WebGL, so the model works without an account and without sending anything to a server. The skin tone and pattern are an artistic reconstruction, because fossils do not preserve color or soft tissue, and this model is not a fossil-accurate skeleton; the numbers above are real published values.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Yi qi a pterosaur or a bat?
No. Yi qi was a dinosaur - specifically a scansoriopterygid, a small group of dinosaurs related to early birds. Its wing membrane, supported by a rod-like wrist bone, worked on the same basic principle as a bat's or pterosaur's wing, but the animal itself was a true dinosaur.
How big was Yi qi?
Tiny. Wingspan is commonly cited at about 60 cm, and the skull was under 4 cm long. Published weight estimates vary from roughly 0.38 to 0.52 kg across different sources, often rounded to under 0.4 kg - about the weight of a large pigeon. Turn on the human figure to compare a 1.8 m person with that wingspan.
When and where did Yi qi live?
In the Middle to Late Jurassic, roughly 166 to 159 million years ago, in what is now Hebei Province, China. The single known fossil was found in the Tiaojishan Formation near Mutoudeng and was named and described in 2015 by Xu Xing, Zheng Xiaoting, Corwin Sullivan and colleagues in the journal Nature.
What did Yi qi eat?
The exact diet was not directly preserved. Its short, deep skull and small, forward-pointing teeth suggest it hunted insects, likely up in tree branches, but this is an inference from the skull shape rather than a directly observed fact.
Is the model scientifically accurate?
The proportions and wing shape follow the published description, but the skin color and soft-tissue outline are an artistic reconstruction - fossils preserve bone and membrane outline, not color. This model is not a fossil-accurate skeleton. The wingspan, weight range, and age figures shown are real published values.
Do I need to install anything to view it?
No. The model renders in your browser with WebGL - no app, no account, and nothing about your visit is sent to a server. The 3D engine loads once and is then cached.