Guest Nicholas Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Paleontologists have discovered what they say is a new type of fossilized feather. The team has observed a stiff, unbranched filament on a specimen of Beipiaosaurus,, a previously known species of dinosaur that also sported other types of feathers elsewhere on its body. Find the article HERE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 “Many of us believe that these ‘feathered dinosaurs’ are actually flightless birds,”...“Are we sweeping important questions under the rug by saying that these [creatures] are feathered dinosaurs?” Semantics. Let's not over-pigeonhole this; it all comes down to examining the definition of "bird", and definitions are a construct of the human mind. Better to examine the relationships. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Semantics. Let's not over-pigeonhole this; it all comes down to examining the definition of "bird", and definitions are a construct of the human mind. Better to examine the relationships. Very good point, I've not adopted the "flightless bird" tag for dinosaurs as of yet... I prefer Dinosaurs... they are linked undoubtedly but until they made the full switch... dinos are dinos... and birds are bird and dinos with feathers and wannabe birds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 “Many of us believe that these ‘feathered dinosaurs’ are actually flightless birds,”...“Are we sweeping important questions under the rug by saying that these [creatures] are feathered dinosaurs?” are they the same as the bird like creatures that would climb the trees and glide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 thats a very nice article but i have one question that i hope someone might be able to answer. Why does it seem that many of the imprtant feathered dinosaurs come out of China, was the environment and conditions just right for them to thrive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bone digger Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 The enviroment and conditions were just right for the feathers to become fossilized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 “Many of us believe that these ‘feathered dinosaurs’ are actually flightless birds,”...“Are we sweeping important questions under the rug by saying that these [creatures] are feathered dinosaurs?” Semantics. Let's not over-pigeonhole this; it all comes down to examining the definition of "bird", and definitions are a construct of the human mind. Better to examine the relationships. "pigeonhole" this, huh... perhaps we can get the people who decided that a planet was improperly designated and de-planetized it to do the same with either birds or dinos. in fairness my suggestion would be to eliminate both names and create a third name for the combined group. and do i have a suggested name? why, i thought you'd never ask. saurbridians. saurbridians is easy to pronounce and will be a very good name, i think. if each of you who knows some scientific people can get them to just start using the new term, it won't be long before it's a standard. please begin immediately. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 thats a very nice article but i have one question that i hope someone might be able to answer. Why does it seem that many of the imprtant feathered dinosaurs come out of China, was the environment and conditions just right for them to thrive? Good question. In terms of the environment and fauna of china... there is no evidence to suggest that it was anything special in terms of what animals were living there. Bone digger is right - all that is special about china is the environment of deposition, and that the fossils were just able to be preserved there. So, it is highly likely that these critters all lived in north america too, just that the cretaceous fine-grained sediments are too crude to really preserve any of them. Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 ah that makes sense, thanks bone digger and boesse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 New Feathered Dinosaur Adds to Bird Evolution Theory A fossil of a primitive feathered dinosaur uncovered in China is helping scientists create a better model of how dinosaurs evolved into modern birds. The winged dinosaur is still in the process of being dated, and might have lived toward the end of the Jurassic period, which lasted from 208 to 144 million years ago. Find the article HERE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Good one! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Gotta love pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 New Feathered Dinosaur Adds to Bird Evolution TheoryFind the article HERE! I couldn't get the links to work, but I'm assuming that this is what it discussed. A new feathered maniraptoran dinosaur fossil that fills a morphological gap in avian origin Abstract: Xu X., et al. Chinese Science Bulletin 54, 1861-9541 (Online). Recent fossil discoveries have substantially reduced the morphological gap between non-avian and avian dinosaurs, yet avians including Archaeopteryx differ from non-avian theropods in their limb proportions. In particular, avians have proportionally longer and more robust forelimbs that are capable of supporting a large aerodynamic surface. Here we report on a new maniraptoran dinosaur, Anchiornis huxleyi gen. et sp. nov., based on a specimen collected from lacustrine deposits of uncertain age in western Liaoning, China. With an estimated mass of 110 grams, Anchiornis is the smallest known non-avian theropod dinosaur. It exhibits some wrist features indicative of high mobility, presaging the wing-folding mechanisms seen in more derived birds and suggesting rapid evolution of the carpus. Otherwise, Anchiornis is intermediate in general morphology between non-avian and avian dinosaurs, particularly with regard to relative forelimb length and thickness, and represents a transitional step toward the avian condition. In contrast with some recent comprehensive phylogenetic analyses, our phylogenetic analysis incorporates subtle morphological variations and recovers a conventional result supporting the monophyly of Avialae. Read more from National Geographic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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