My view about dinosaurs have changed?

[Albino Pterosaur]

Hello .Small theropods to medium all had feathers?It is confirmed?I really know that they got that ;but the stupidity of people that still portrait's them as scaly lizards make me to explode.What are your own thoughs?Why?Jurassic Park and all dino -related things portrait's them as lizards.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Albino Pterosaur

[LordTrilobite]

It depends on how you would define feathers. A full set of feathers that you would expect to see on a bird are confirmed for a number of Theropod groups. These include the most advanced Theropods. Raptors (Dromaeosaurids), Oviraptorids and Troodontids fall into this group. They pretty much probably just looked like birds with teeth, hands and long tails.

While some other more primitive Theropods may only have had so-called "Dino fuzz". Tyrannosaurids and Theropods like Compsognathus fall into this group. But it's also worth noting that scales from the underside of a T. rex tail have ben found. Skin impressions of the Tyrannosaurid Gorgosaurus have also been found, but they seemed to be scaleless, which may indicate that it could have had a fuzzy covering.

Then there are the even more primitive Theropods of which there is less known on ingtegument. As far as I know nothing is known of the covering of Spinosaurids. Quillknobs have been found on the arms of the Allosauid Concavenator. So it may have had feathers, fuzz or just quills. But it did have something.

The closest relatives of Theropods, the Sauropods are not known to have any feathers. I think there are some skin impressions with scales but I personally don't know of a specific example.

Of course, feather-like integuments are also found on some Ornithischians. The basal Kulindadromeus had a covering of fuzz on much of it's body. Though it's legs and tail had scales, The Ceratopsian Psittacosaurus is known to have a row of quil-like integuments on it's tail. Skin impressions of Triceratops show large crocodile-like scales. But some of the scales had a kind of nipple on them and some have suggested that these larger scales supported quills like we see in Psittacosaurus. So Triceratops may have had a butt like a porcupine.

I don't think there is much known of the covering of Ankylosaurids and Stegosaurids. There is a lot of evidence for scales large Hadrosaurs though. many mummies and skin impressions of Hadrosaurids have been found, they pretty much all show a scales of varying sizes. Some also had a row of enlarged scales along their back. A recent discovery of an Edmontosaurus mummy showed it had a fleshy crest similar to that of a rooster.

Since feathers, fuzz and quills appear in both Ornithischians and Saurischians, primitive dino fu may have been ancestral to all dinosaurs. And it may even go back further than that. Pterosaurs, though not actually Dinosaurs are closely related also have a fuzzy covering. Some have suggested this may have been the same structure and the lineage would go back even further. But it may just be convergent evolution.

Short answer

Yes, most Theropods wth probably fuzzy or fully covered in feathers.

And concerning Jurassic Park. Back in 1993 when the first film was released. It wasn't known that most Theropods had feathers. It was actually pretty up to date with much of the science. And the film also popularised the idea that dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds. Before Jurassic Park a lot of people still had the tail-dragging sluggish lizards in their minds when they thought of dinosaurs. And the newer Jurassic World film not having feathers, you could call it continuity within the Jurassic Park francise.

Edited January 4, 2016 by LordTrilobite

[Auspex]

Hello .Small theropods to medium all had feathers?It is confirmed?I really know that they got that ;but the stupidity of people that still portrait's them as scaly lizards make me to explode.What are your own thoughs?Why?Jurassic Park and all dino -related things portrait's them as lizards.

There are competing theories, and the adherents of one or the other should not be accused of 'stupidity' (and certainly not on this Forum).

[jpc]

Yes, the makers of Jurassic Park have said that the newer movies have featherless dinosaurs in the name of continuity.

[Ridgehiker]

We're primates and so are gorillas. We both have hair all over our body but look quite different.There really isn't a generic primate that could be portrayed as 'more accurate' when it comes to hair. All are unique.

I've come across lots of Dino skin impressions in our Cretaceous deposits. Never seen even a hint of feathers or anything hinting at feathers. I would think that theropod Dino's were quite a diverse group over their tens of millions of years. Some may have had visible type feathers...some with insignificant remnants.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Ridgehiker

[Troodon]

When I first started collecting the thought of feathers in dinosaurs was quickly dismissed with a laugh so times have changed. We are still in the early stages of understanding what different types of dinosaurs looked like and views are changing with new discoveries.

Has far as the movies it's the movies not science. Whatever will draw the biggest audience is the approach they will take. 99% of people are not close to understanding what dinosaurs looked like so to change people's perception may affect the bottom line in anything that is sold or viewed so why do it.