Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered

anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"

Comments

Balderdash! Preposterous!

[CorporateSuit]

I think the whole "dinosaurs evolved into chickens" things is rather silly. Exhibit A: Alligators and sharks. They were around the same time as T-rex. They may have shrunk, but that's about it. Exhibit B: Birds. They do not have useless forearms. In fact, in order to fly, their wings (they have these instead of arms, you see) must be powered by incredibly strong muscles. Even if humans had wings, our pectorals are all simply too wimpy for us to even lift ourselves off the ground. Withered, useless claws would not power up the beefy torso needed for a T-rex to lift itself off the ground.

So what about this "collagen" evidence? Easy. The T-rex ate enough birds that it got bird collagen to fill in its bones. Check out the sea slugs that eat enough algea to photosynthesize. There were T-rexes, there were dinosaurs with feathers, there were delicious birds.

Feel free to call me stupid in the face of your pithy evidences, but in 10, 20, or 50 years (however long it takes), I'll continue to say the same thing (and be right), and you'll say "Well, the facts have shown that our original theories were incorrect, so we've modified our theories, and it's ok, because that's what science does, but you were still a moron when you disagreed with our incorrect-but-widely-believed theory!" -- worse than religious nutjobs you are. (Oh, and parent poster, when I say "you", I'm speaking in the general "you people who disagree with me and my theory of 'T-rexes were too awesome to have stupid bird babies'") Just like with chimps. Latest evidence (findings published last fall, I believe?) shows we didn't evolve from chimps, but everyone who believed in the chimp-is-my-grandpa theory is still right/was always right, and everyone who said "I don't think chimp is my grandpa" was wrong, is wrong, and is an idiot, aren't they?

Well, when it finally finds us, I'll meet you at the truth. Until then, I propose a philosophical, rhetorical question: would you rather be stupid but right or be scientific and wrong? It seems both sides have something to share.

Re:Balderdash! Preposterous!

[CorporateSuit]

Actually, I did address the ridiculous rationalization of "T-rex useless limbs are perfect candidate for wings" as what it is -- rationalization and just ANOTHER trillion-to-one shot THAT MUST HAVE HAPPENED BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE BIRDS! It's ridiculous. The sooner you see it for what it is, you will thank me for pointing it out to you.

You haven't stated one thing wrong with my theory. You refuse to state that my theory is statistically, without hyperbole, hundreds of billions of times more likely than yours -- for EACH species of bird that exists. You cannot refute it because you don't know your own theory better than I do. You do what you are trained to do -- tell me I don't understand it and call it a day. Guess what? You're wrong on two counts: I do understand it, and you're theory is still a rotted egg with holes punched through it.

If you had any SHRED of care for actual science in you, you would THANK me for finding something wrong with the theory. No no no... instead of going into a room where you had stored a mouse you were planning on killing only to find a snake (and no mouse in sight), you insist on telling me that a solar flare probably caused the mouse's DNA to rearrange and become a snake, and that my theory that the snake ate the mouse, as we see commonly in nature, is Stupid because I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR RETARDED THEORY. I do understand your theory and since you cannot refute mine with reason, you reduce yourself to a slavery, wimpering, drooling, brainwashed appliance only capable of telling me I don't understand. That is what YOU don't understand about your theory.