Scientists say the Chinese fossil was a fraud.
A new study reveals how the forgery was perpetrated. Months later, the magazine said the fossil was a fraud after a Chinese paleontologist, Xing Xu, said he thought the fossil was a composite of different animals. Now Xu and colleagues report in this week's journal Nature that X-ray computer scans show Archaeoraptor was artfully created from 88 fragments of rock and fossil in three layers. The turkey-sized animal was said to have been found in China's Liaoning province by farmers. After it was taken out of China, it appeared on the commercial market at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, where private collectors gather to buy and sell fossils.