(Q)
10-06-04, 08:29 PM
Dilong Paradoxus
"The 130 million-year-old fossil is the oldest member recorded from the tyrannosauroid family, and the first in the group with a feather-like covering.
Holtz hopes that the new evidence will convince the scientific community that feathers evolved on dinosaurs long before the appearance of birds. Until now, some palaeontologists have been dubious that feathered tyrannosauroids existed.
The protofeathers would most likely have been used for insulation rather than flight, Norell says. The giant T. rex had probably lost the featherlike features of its predecessors because, with its much larger size, it would have had more difficulty losing heat than keeping it. Tyrannosaurus chicks may have had a downy cover, though."
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041004/full/041004-11.html
http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14549518.jpg
"The 130 million-year-old fossil is the oldest member recorded from the tyrannosauroid family, and the first in the group with a feather-like covering.
Holtz hopes that the new evidence will convince the scientific community that feathers evolved on dinosaurs long before the appearance of birds. Until now, some palaeontologists have been dubious that feathered tyrannosauroids existed.
The protofeathers would most likely have been used for insulation rather than flight, Norell says. The giant T. rex had probably lost the featherlike features of its predecessors because, with its much larger size, it would have had more difficulty losing heat than keeping it. Tyrannosaurus chicks may have had a downy cover, though."
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041004/full/041004-11.html
http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14549518.jpg