Tag: feathers
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This Dinosaur Had Feathers and Probably Flew Like a Chicken
The New York Times has an article about the Chicago Archaeopteryx. The Field Museum unveiled the its Archaeopteryx in the Spring of 2024. Since then, the fossil has been revealing its secrets… some of them were published recently in the journal Nature. Archaeopteryx specimens have, “maybe more than any other fossil, changed the way that…
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New fossil brings us a step closer to unravelling the mystery of feather evolution
The Conversation has an interesting article about research into the evolution of feathers. Feathers were originally used for display and thermoregulation. It was only later when they were co-opted for flight. A new paper “Cellular structure of dinosaur scales reveals retention of reptile-type skin during the evolutionary transition of feathers”, published in the journal Nature,…
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The hidden rule for flight feathers and how it could reveal which dinosaurs could fly
Phys.org has a story about flying dinosaurs. A new paper in the journal PNAS looked at hundreds of feathers in museum collections to determine which feather characteristics were common to flying birds. These characteristics were then used to create “rules”, which when applied to fossil dinosaur feathers might predict which dinosaurs were able to fly. …
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Fossils reveal the long-term relationship between feathered dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles
Phys.org has a story about an discovery in Mesozoic amber. The amber reveals a parasitic beetle feeding on some feathers. The researchers were unable to determine if the relationship was one of mutual benefit or one-sided. The amber is about 105 million years old from a Spanish locality near San Just. The paper was published…
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These 125 million-year-old fossils may hold dinosaur DNA
LiveScience has an article about the potential discovery of the remnants of dinosaur DNA. A study published in the journal Communications Biology looked at fossilized cartilage from a Caudipteryx, which was a feathered, peacock-like dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago in what is now China. The study’s researchers found what appears to be…
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Nature: Insects with 100 million-year-old dinosaur feathers are not ectoparasites
Nature has an open access paper which looked deeper into the discovery of insects found on dinosaur feathers preserved in amber. The amber was found in the Myanmar and dates to the mid-Cretaceous Period about 100 million years ago. The original paper “New insects feeding on dinosaur feather in mid-Cretaceous amber” was published in 2019.…
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National Geographic goes big on dinosaurs — and big on Yale paleontology
YaleNews has a story about the latest issue of National Geographic. The cover has a Deinonychus, discovered in the 1960 by Yale paleotologist John Ostrom. This web page on the National Geographic site has links to numerous stories about recent dinosaur discoveries. It includes the lead story in this issue of the magazine… “Reimagining Dinosaurs“.…
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New Bird-Like Dinosaur Discovered: Overoraptor chimentoi
SciNews has a story about a new bird-like dinosaur. Discovered in Argentina, Overoraptor chimentoi lived about 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, in what is now Patagonia. All the details on this dinosaur can be read in a paper published in the journal Nature. The fossilized remains of Overoraptor chimentoi were recovered from the beds…
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First evidence of feathered polar dinosaurs found in Australia
Phys.org has a story about the first polar dinosaurs with feathers. Fossilized dinosaur and bird feathers have been found in what are fine muddy sediments in Australia. The deposit was once the bottom of a shallow lake that was close to the South Pole during the Cretaceous. The feathers date to about 118 million years…
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Feathers and Fur Fly Over Pterosaur Fossil Finding
An artist’s rendering of a short-tailed pterosaur. Scientists say they were covered with fuzzy, fur-like insulating structures over their heads, torsos, limbs and tails. And on their heads and wings, three types of curved, thread-like fibers resembling modern feathers.CreditCreditYuan Zhang/Nature Ecology & Evolution The NY Times Trilobites blog has a story about a new pterosaur…
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Chinese Cretaceous fossil highlights avian evolution
Phys.org has a story about a newly identified extinct bird species. The 127 million year old bird lived in what is now northeastern China. Its name is Jinguoforis perplexus and it provides new information about avian development during the early evolution of flight. Details are provided in a paper published in PNAS. Drs. Wang Min,…
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Stunning Fossil Discovery Reveals a New Dinosaur With Iridescent Feathers
ScienceAlert has a story about the discovery of a dinosaur with iridescent feathers. The new dinosaur named Caihong juji, which means “rainbow with a big crest” in Mandarin, lived about 161 million years ago in China, during the Jurassic period. The research appeared in the journal Nature. “Iridescent colouration is well known to be linked…
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Preserved Dino Feathers found in Amber
From Science via NatureNews: The amber samples are between 70 and 85 million years old, and come from a site called Grassy Lake in western Canada that was once home to a conifer forest. The site is well known for the wide range of insects found preserved in its amber. Palaeontologist Ryan McKellar and his…
