Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Examine Dinosaur Skin
jd writes "Fossilized skin from a dinosaur in China is allowing paleontologists a better understanding of what dinosaur skin was like. A tear, caused by a predator, shows that below the scales of the Psittacosaurus was a thick hide comprised of 25 layers of collagen. Other than the multitude of layers, this is very similar in nature to modern shark skin. The gash caused by a predator allowed the skin and the soft interior to be fossilized along with the bones. This is not the same dinosaur that had been reported previously on Slashdot, which was found in South Dakota, although the process and extent of fossilization is very similar."
Well, evolution isn't really all that good at creating new things, but is very good at retaining good designs.
Seagoon: Shut up Eccles!
Eccles: Shut up Eccles!
Imagine the amount of gelatin dinosaur stock would contain, it'd put veal shanks to shame.
How was the flesh preserved, and not eaten by microbes?
Suddenly covered by sediment seems like odd explanation.
Like there was all of a sudden a large amount of water full of particulates put on top of this land dwelling animal. Then allowed to settle.
Weird
Well put - This is certainly interesting, but it would have been more surprising to learn that they had some completely different and unique skin structure. Sharks and many reptiles have been around a helluva long time because they're very well adapted to their niches.
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On a side note, I find it pleasantly surprising that Firefox's spell-check happily accepted 'helluva'.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Additionaly "Climbing Mount Improbable" by Richard Dawkins gives a great overview of the various eye in the animal kingdom. Interesting bits are how the eye apparently developed along several lines, and how a choice made early in evolution can hardly be undone, such as the blood vessels being in front of the retina in the eyes of vertrebrates. (Or wait, God did that to protect the retina.)