A hypothetical drawing of Utah Raptor, the largest known member of the family Dromaeosauridae. Utah Raptors were as tall as an elephant and armed with teeth and claws many times larger than those on a modern day tiger
It has been known for more than a decade that some dinosaurs had feathers. Particularly the Dromaeosauridae, better known as raptors, which could almost be described as an early clade of flightless birds. Some of these birds just happened to be big enough to take on a pride of lions and were armed with big pointy teeth and razor-sharp semi-retractable claws. Now, dino feathers beautifully preserved in amber found in Canada (Abstract) hint at the dazzling diversity and breathtaking beauty of these extinct creatures:
Scientists have posited that feathers developed first as single, hair-like protrusions meant for insulation. Then they began to grow in clumps before evolving into increasingly complex structures, each branching off from a central shaft. They were probably used for other purposes, such as attracting mates, before becoming essential for flight.
The preserved feathers are a big deal for two reasons. They’re so well preserved color can be observed in some and inferred in all of them. And they represent the leading theory for how feathers evolved and diversified from simply hair-like filaments to complex flight feathers. It’s clear from the new find that dino feathers were likely as diverse as those found on modern birds today. Since dinosaurs existed for over 150 million years and dominated every continent it’s fair to speculate there would have been feathered dinos so well endowed color and plumage they would have given peacocks a raging case of feather envy.
“Fluffy dinos found in Canadian amber” ….
I shouldn’t have been surprised by this misleading title, but I was still very disappointed. I’ve been hoping for a few years now to actually see a fluffy dino found in amber, damn it, and this would more accurately be described as “Dinosaur fluff found in Canadian amber.”
Many dinosaurs likely were small enough to be found intact in amber. The existence of epidexipteryx and others hints that tiny dinosaur diversity may have been much greater than the fossil record is capable of revealing.
So this is what I’ve been dreaming of and now I’m just annoyed at having been teased. Fooey on you, sir. Fooey.
… feathered dinos so well endowed [with] color and plumage they would have given peacocks a raging case of feather envy.
Prob’ly just as well that this was not known to Spielberg’s CGI crew when they concocted the Jurassic Park flicks. (Though I would really like to see what artists with more class might do with Utah Raptors…)