The Chicago Archaeopteryx

Jingmai O'Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles, with the Chicago Archaeopteryx specimen, at the Field Museum, March 2024. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The Field Museum Now Has an Incredibly Rare Fossil Proving Birds Are Dinosaurs. Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes Look at How They Got It

The Field formally announced to the world what had become a not-so-well-kept secret: The museum had acquired just the 13th specimen known to exist of Archaeopteryx, a fossil often described as the “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds.