When humans blossomed from the evolutionary tree, it seems there was a cold wet nose and a wagging tail waiting for us.

CNN: Quest for man's best friend

But the researchers say the new fossil shows the Alvarezsauridae group split from birds much earlier on the evolutionary tree than was thought.

BBC: New dinosaur discovery solves evolutionary bird puzzle

They proposed yanking the prehistoric creature off the "bird" branch of the evolutionary family tree and moving it onto a closely related lineage of birdlike dinosaurs.

NPR: New Study Restores Famed Fossil To "Bird" Branch

That status was called into question two years ago by Chinese scientists, who proposed yanking it off the "bird" branch of the evolutionary family tree and moving it onto a closely related lineage of birdlike dinosaurs.

NPR: New Study Restores Famed Fossil To "Bird" Branch