5 ms·

One point that most illustration of the old dinosaurs probably get wrong is the lack of feathers. After all, all current dinosaurs have feathers (Yes birds are

One point that most illustration of the old dinosaurs probably get wrong is the lack of feathers. After all, all current dinosaurs have feathers (Yes birds are technically dinosaurs) and it seems reasonable to assume that some of their ancestors had them too. Unfortunately, unlike bones, feathers do not fossilize really well, so we cannot easily determine which species had them. The most likely reason dinosaurs developed feathers is thermal insulation, just like why mammals developed hair.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
We have enough fossils of "things that don't fossilize well" that if dinosaurs were feathered by default we'd know about it.
- handrous 5y ago
  Last I checked back in on my childhood obsession of paleontology, consensus was that a whole lot more theropods were at least partially feathered, at least at some life stages, than previously thought, including some of the big ones, but there's not evidence that many other categories of dinosaur were feathered.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    AFAIK that's still correct. The dinosaurs from which birds are descended are thought to have feathers or something similar, in some case or at some stages of life. But that's a really long way from being the default or even a sizeable enough majority that one could say "the dinosaurs had feathers" as a generalization and do so with a straight face.
cwmma 5y ago
that being said there is a pretty good chance a lot of the bigger dinosaurs (e.g. t. rex) probably did not have many feathers similar to how rhinos, elephants and other large mammals don't (but hey mammoths did so so it's probably not none)
- frosted-flakes 5y ago
  ...don't have fur, I think you mean?
  - oyashirochama 5y ago
    Fur for the mammals, feathers for the avian and dinosaur ancestors, which there are featherless birds.
autokad 5y ago
> "After all, all current dinosaurs have feathers" that's selection bias. only the avian 'dinosaurs' survived, but calling them dinosaurs would be like calling humans rodents. It's not like birds existed back then. There seems to be a rush to try and put feathers on everything. We are finding some amazing specimens that are giving us amazing detail, such as the ankylosaur found in Canada. Yup, covered in scales and hard armor. Now we got this T-rex crazed idea to put feathers all over them. It sort of reminds me of the 1990s who tried to put t-rex as scavengers / non predators because of 1 solitary data point. the data strongly suggests they were scaled (we found skin impressions of t-rex, they had scales). So now they are trying to say 'oh well maybe they had feathers elsewhere, or were covered in feathers when young'. sheesh. > "Unfortunately, unlike bones, feathers do not fossilize really well" if a leaf can be fossilized, I imagine so can a feather.
- LinAGKar 5y ago
  >only the avian 'dinosaurs' survived, but calling them dinosaurs would be like calling humans rodents. No, humans did not evolve from rodents. It's more like calling humans primates. >It's not like birds existed back then. Back when? There were birds before the other dinosaurs went extinct, so concurrently with T-Rex.
  - autokad 5y ago
    > "No, humans did not evolve from rodents. It's more like calling humans primates." Its my understanding humans evolved from a rodent like creature that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. primates did not exist then. also, humans did not evolve from primates. humans are primates.
    - LinAGKar 5y ago
      >Its my understanding humans evolved from a rodent like creature that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. primates did not exist then. Our ancestors might at some point have been rodent-like, in the sense that they looked somewhat like rodents (or rather, some rodents still look like them, as the rodents also evolved from the same ancestor). But they weren't rodents, and they didn't have the incisors that characterize rodents. >also, humans did not evolve from primates. humans are primates Yes, we evolved from primates, and thus still are primates, like how birds still are dinosaurs.
Cd00d 5y ago
My kids have a dinosaur book, and I was blown away at the difference in portrayal of the velociraptor compared to what was in the original Jurassic Park film. Super bird-like now. https://www.dkfindout.com/us/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/dinosaurs/velociraptor/ https://www.dkfindout.com/us/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/...

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

We have enough fossils of "things that don't fossilize well" that if dinosaurs were feathered by default we'd know about it.

handrous 5y ago
Last I checked back in on my childhood obsession of paleontology, consensus was that a whole lot more theropods were at least partially feathered, at least at some life stages, than previously thought, including some of the big ones, but there's not evidence that many other categories of dinosaur were feathered.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  AFAIK that's still correct. The dinosaurs from which birds are descended are thought to have feathers or something similar, in some case or at some stages of life. But that's a really long way from being the default or even a sizeable enough majority that one could say "the dinosaurs had feathers" as a generalization and do so with a straight face.

cwmma 5y ago

that being said there is a pretty good chance a lot of the bigger dinosaurs (e.g. t. rex) probably did not have many feathers similar to how rhinos, elephants and other large mammals don't (but hey mammoths did so so it's probably not none)

frosted-flakes 5y ago
...don't have fur, I think you mean?
- oyashirochama 5y ago
  Fur for the mammals, feathers for the avian and dinosaur ancestors, which there are featherless birds.

autokad 5y ago

> "After all, all current dinosaurs have feathers" that's selection bias. only the avian 'dinosaurs' survived, but calling them dinosaurs would be like calling humans rodents. It's not like birds existed back then. There seems to be a rush to try and put feathers on everything. We are finding some amazing specimens that are giving us amazing detail, such as the ankylosaur found in Canada. Yup, covered in scales and hard armor. Now we got this T-rex crazed idea to put feathers all over them. It sort of reminds me of the 1990s who tried to put t-rex as scavengers / non predators because of 1 solitary data point. the data strongly suggests they were scaled (we found skin impressions of t-rex, they had scales). So now they are trying to say 'oh well maybe they had feathers elsewhere, or were covered in feathers when young'. sheesh. > "Unfortunately, unlike bones, feathers do not fossilize really well" if a leaf can be fossilized, I imagine so can a feather.

LinAGKar 5y ago
>only the avian 'dinosaurs' survived, but calling them dinosaurs would be like calling humans rodents. No, humans did not evolve from rodents. It's more like calling humans primates. >It's not like birds existed back then. Back when? There were birds before the other dinosaurs went extinct, so concurrently with T-Rex.
- autokad 5y ago
  > "No, humans did not evolve from rodents. It's more like calling humans primates." Its my understanding humans evolved from a rodent like creature that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. primates did not exist then. also, humans did not evolve from primates. humans are primates.
  - LinAGKar 5y ago
    >Its my understanding humans evolved from a rodent like creature that existed during the time of the dinosaurs. primates did not exist then. Our ancestors might at some point have been rodent-like, in the sense that they looked somewhat like rodents (or rather, some rodents still look like them, as the rodents also evolved from the same ancestor). But they weren't rodents, and they didn't have the incisors that characterize rodents. >also, humans did not evolve from primates. humans are primates Yes, we evolved from primates, and thus still are primates, like how birds still are dinosaurs.

Cd00d 5y ago

My kids have a dinosaur book, and I was blown away at the difference in portrayal of the velociraptor compared to what was in the original Jurassic Park film. Super bird-like now. https://www.dkfindout.com/us/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/dinosaurs/velociraptor/ https://www.dkfindout.com/us/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/...