The discovery of the first remains of the Caudipteryx goes back to the late nineties. Described by a group of Chinese and American scholars in 1998 the animal demonstrates unequivocally for the first time the presence of feathers in dinosaurs. Whether Caudipteryx is a proto-bird or  feathered dinosaur is a debate that divides the paleontological community. The three dimensional reconstruction of the fossil, undertaken in our laboratory in Trieste, allows study for the first time of the unique traits of this dinosaur.