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Siberian Discovery Suggests Almost All Dinosaurs Were Feathered

Posted by Soulskill on from the tyrannosaurus-big-bird dept.

A new study published in Science (abstract) suggests that most dinosaurs were covered with feathers. This conclusion was drawn after the discovery of fossils belonging to a 1.5-meter-long, two-legged dinosaur called Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus. "The fossils, which included six skulls and many more bones, greatly broaden the number of families of dinosaurs sporting feathers—downy, ribboned, and thin ones in this case—indicating that plumes evolved from the scales that covered earlier reptiles, probably as insulation." Its distinctiveness from earlier theropod fossil discoveries suggests that feathered dinosaurs appeared much further back in history than previously thought. Paleontologist Stephen Brusatte said, "This does mean that we can now be very confident that feathers weren't just an invention of birds and their closest relatives, but evolved much deeper in dinosaur history. I think that the common ancestor of dinosaurs probably had feathers, and that all dinosaurs had some type of feather, just like all mammals have some type of hair."

10 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Whelp. by An+Ominous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Time to remake Jurassic Park. And while he's at it, Speilberg can change all the guns to flashlights!

    1. Re:Whelp. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Funny

      You think a T-Rex "chicken" wouldn't be scary? Imagine a 15 foot tall, 40 foot long bird of prey with a 4 foot jaw and 9 inch long teeth. Your average adult human would be finger food - a bite or two and then gone. This gets even more terrifying if you imagine them as giant cockatoos (and if you know how nasty cockatoos can be).

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:Whelp. by cyberchondriac · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm trying to imagine a deep, chest rumbling, fear inducing, "BOKKKKK"


      Nope.

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      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    3. Re:Whelp. by Nethead · · Score: 3, Funny

      Kind of. He went up to the dog and recited a perfect cat meow. That confused the hell out of the dog. Then, while the dog was befuddled, he let out his patented SCRECH and the pit bull ran under the bed.

      --
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  2. Re:Dang... by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not to mention the modifications we have to make to the creationist parks.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  3. From the article... by aerivus · · Score: 3, Funny

    What exactly did all these different feathers do? "I don't know; nobody knows for sure," Godefroit says. "These animals couldn't fly, that's all we can tell you."

    Of course these dinosaurs couldn't fly; everyone knows that in the late Triassic, the Pterosaurs received a broad-reaching patent titled "Feathery Apparatus for Flight". Regrettably, the patent term length at the time was over one hundred million years.

  4. Re:Dang... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    This means we'll have to redraw 200 years worth of artwork...

    And redo other things.... The phrase "Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus of a feather flock together." doesn't really roll off the tongue.

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  5. I had a Chuckle by Phics · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like the dinosaurs were humiliated backwards... feathered ...then tarred.

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    1. Re:I had a Chuckle by istartedi · · Score: 4, Funny

      At least they weren't gzipped.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion