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 sir tripsalot
Administrator
Registered: 07/09/99
Posts: 6,487
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 Gotta get with the times people 
#927050 - 10/03/02 12:28 AM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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Maybe even mighty Tyrannosaurus rex had feathers.
Pieces of the fossilized skeleton of the dinosaur Beipaosaurus inexpectus. Some areas near the legs, arms and shoulders show impressions of feather-like structures. (Nature)
The discovery of another dinosaur in China with a covering of feather-like filaments hints that perhaps all coelurosaurian theropods ? the group of dinosaurs believed to be the immediate ancestors of birds ? were similarly quilted.
?It?s certainly beginning to look that way,? says Philip Currie, curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. ?The coolest thing, here you have another family of dinosaurs altogether with feathers.?
Like a Down Jacket
That isn?t suggesting that theropod dinosaurs, which include T. rex and velociraptors, flew. The early coverings were probably for insulating warmth.
Writing in Thursday?s issue of the journal Nature, a trio of Chinese researchers describe a new species of dinosaur found in northeastern China in the same deposits that have yielded three other feathered dinosaurs.
?It suggests lots of dinosaurs, even tyrannosaurs, have ?feathers? and supports the hypothesis that the bird feather is derived from such kinds of filamentary structures,? says Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and lead author of the Nature paper.
Strange Looks B. inexpectus was found among rich fossil deposits in China?s Liaoning Province, which had previously yielded several other ?feathered dinosaurs? and early birds. (ABCNEWS.com)
The new species, dubbed Beipaosaurus inexpectus, is a primitive member of a subgroup of dinosaurs known as therizinosaurs.
The strange features of therizinosaurs ? short tails, very large claws, small heads, long arms, four toes instead of three as in other theropods ? had perplexed paleontologists about where to place them in the dinosaur family tree. Because Beipaosaurus is a mix of therizinosaur and theropod features, it provides an evolutionary link between therizinosaurs and the rest of the theropods.
Unlike other theropods, Beipaosaurus may have been a plant eater, not a meat eater. ?They had strange teeth,? Currie says. ?We really don?t know.?
At seven feet long, Beipaosaurus was a relatively small therizinosaur. ?It?s a very gangly looking animal,? Currie says. ?It?s bigger than a man but not by much,?
Beipaosaurus? filament covering, seen around the arms, legs and shoulders, is similar to that of Sinosaurpteryx the first ?feathered dinosaur? described a couple of years ago.
?They seems to be like the down feathers in birds,? Xu says.
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"Little racoons and old possums 'n' stuff all live up in here. They've got to have a little place to sit." Bob Ross.
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sir tripsalot
Administrator
Registered: 07/09/99
Posts: 6,487
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Re: Gotta get with the times people [Re: sir tripsalot]
#928698 - 10/03/02 02:03 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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*bump*
C'mon, tell me how god said that he would trick us with these to test our faith. 
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"Little racoons and old possums 'n' stuff all live up in here. They've got to have a little place to sit." Bob Ross.
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 vaporbrains
Cub Scout
Registered: 09/09/02
Posts: 539
Loc: ghetto# 03479
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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Re: Gotta get with the times people [Re: sir tripsalot]
#928712 - 10/03/02 02:10 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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maybe it's just vestigal...we have a vestigal tail bone but i don't know anyone with a fucking tail...
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All refrences to and statements concerning mushrooms, mushroom cultivation, and mushroom related paraphrenalia refer specifically to the cultivation of legal species.
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sir tripsalot
Administrator
Registered: 07/09/99
Posts: 6,487
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Re: Gotta get with the times people [Re: vaporbrains]
#928738 - 10/03/02 02:18 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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Yes it has gotten smaller as we evolved. See you're understanding how it works.
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"Little racoons and old possums 'n' stuff all live up in here. They've got to have a little place to sit." Bob Ross.
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LOPHO.MP
looker
Registered: 09/28/02
Posts: 101
Loc: Santa Cruz CA.
Last seen: 17 years, 7 months
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 Re: Gotta get with the times people (Vestigal?) [Re: vaporbrains]
#929220 - 10/03/02 05:36 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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If something is vestigal it means that it was more present BEFORE. The vestigal tail in humans is what is left over from predecessors that had full tails.
Feathers in dinosaurs could not be vestigal, because none of their ancestors had feathers!
Nothing had feathers BEFORE them.
If dinosaurs had evolved from birds instead of vice versa THEN their feathers would be called vestigal.
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---Still Searching---
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Anonymous
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Re: Gotta get with the times people [Re: sir tripsalot]
#929623 - 10/03/02 08:40 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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We need a science forum.
This ain't it.
Sorry.
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Anonymous
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Re: Gotta get with the times people [Re: sir tripsalot]
#955517 - 10/12/02 05:18 PM (21 years, 6 months ago) |
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As science has now been included in our format I thought I'd blow the dust of a few 'science' threads and revive them. This is a good one to start with.
Have fun!
Cheers,
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