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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/22/2009 : 05:15:39
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Well, oh, theropod feathers, anyway.
There have been so many feathered dinosaur fossils coming out of China that it's become a little ho-hum when yet another is introduced. But this one is different. This one clearly shows a step in the evolution of feathers and it has the invaluable skull of a little-known group of animals, the therizinosaurs. I find this one fascinating and plan to research it in more depth. Paleontologists have excavated a plethora of feathered dinosaurs in China over the past few years have, but none of those dinosaurs had feathers like this. Scientists examining a news specimen of the dinosaur Beipiaosaurus have found imprints of a proto-feather that looks like the missing link between primitive downy feathers and the modern feathers seen on birds.
Additionally, Beipiaosaurus belongs to a recently discovered and poorly-understood group of dinosaurs called therizinosaurs. The specimen with the feathers is also the first Beipiaosaurus specimen found with a skull, which will provide important evidence about the relationship between therizinosaurs and other dinosaurs.
“Feathered dinosaurs are known by the bucket now from northern China,” said Mark Norell, Chairman and Curator of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, “but this is the first intermediary between feathers of Tyrannosaurs like Dilong and the feathers of more birdlike dinosaurs.”
The feather, described in a January 12th paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, consists of a ridged central shaft flanked by tufts of feather. Simple downy feathers consist of just the tufts, while modern feathers sport far more complexity with hard branches shooting off from the central shaft.
Julia Clarke, a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in the evolution of birds, called the feathers “interesting” and “striking”, saying “The new specimen provides further evidence of these filament-like feather precursors in non-avian theropods that we predicted from evidence from how feathers develop in living birds.”
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/22/2009 : 06:10:51 [Permalink]
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That was easy. There really is very little known about Beipiaosaurus and it's relatives. Here's Wikikpedia's very slightly out-of-date article on it -- evolution & research move on, so you got to write fast. They do mention tis find, though: | Beipiaosaurus is a genus of therizinosauroid theropod dinosaur. The discovery of Beipiaosaurus (IPA: /#716;be#618;pja#650;#712;s#596;r#601;s/), which translates as "Beipiao lizard" after a city in China near the location of its discovery, was announced in the May 27, 1999, issue of the journal Nature. These fossils were found in Liaoning Province, China and have been dated to the early Cretaceous Period, about 125 million years ago. It is known from a single species, B. inexpectus, named for "the surprising features in this animal.".[1] A significant number of fossilized bones for this species were recovered, including: cranial fragments, a mandible, three cervical vertebrae, four dorsal vertebrae, a caudal vertebra, the scapula and scapulacoracoid, a complete forelimb, and a complete pelvis with hindlimb. A second specimen was described by Xu et al. in 2009, which preserved a complete skull as well as a significant covering of unique, elongated feathers.[2] |
And here's a better artist's conception, also out of date -- you got to draw fast as well.
Whatever, this was one strange and extraordinary beast!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 01/22/2009 06:26:20 |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 08:26:33 [Permalink]
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It's like a giant reptilian ostrich...
Gotta love evolution, it is so much richer and so much cooler than the creationist alternative... |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 15:34:54 [Permalink]
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Looks like the artist doing the earlier illustration was only hinting at the possibility of feathers, but didn't want to commit either way.
I especially like this quote, as it illustrates how scientists make falsifiable predictions based on many fields of study:| “The new specimen provides further evidence of these filament-like feather precursors in non-avian theropods that we predicted from evidence from how feathers develop in living birds.” |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 16:26:20 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Looks like the artist doing the earlier illustration was only hinting at the possibility of feathers, but didn't want to commit either way.
I especially like this quote, as it illustrates how scientists make falsifiable predictions based on many fields of study:| “The new specimen provides further evidence of these filament-like feather precursors in non-avian theropods that we predicted from evidence from how feathers develop in living birds.” |
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Heh, it looks like it has jungle rot. Whch is why I went looking for a better one. Here's another:
I wonder how it used those exaggerated fore claws. They don't look ideal for either defense or digging.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2009 : 02:22:39 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
And what's with those saddles on their necks?!
Humans and dinosaurs did live together!!!!1!!!eleven!!!
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Yes, yes of course. A little odd though, that, apart from a few silly dragon legends, there is no mention of them in the Bible nor any other religious text. As spectacular as they were, you'd think they'd be prominently featured -- "Sacrifice the fatted Diplodocus," and so forth.
Fortunately, we have the words of the modern-day prophets to enlighten us. We also have the funny-papers.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Oh, horse feathers!!
