Comments on: The bird-hipped dinosaurs finally get feathers… or not… http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/ "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." - Terry Pratchett Sun, 19 May 2013 16:30:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Jocelyn http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-24969 Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:16:37 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-24969 hiho your weblog is cool. I think I will come back to see interesting postings

]]> By: bob http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-22132 Mon, 26 May 2008 23:27:18 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-22132 i like ike

]]> By: Christopher Taylor http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13074 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:23:08 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13074 I believe there’s a Charles R. Knight picture out there where he hedged his bets – a sluggish, upright Tyrannosaurus slumbers in the foreground, while in the background you can see two more active reconstructions of Tyrannosaurus zipping past.

I’ve been unsuccessful in finding a copy online, but the best double reconstruction of this kind is of the segmented Ediacaran animal Spriggina, which has been interpreted by some as a mobile worm, and by others as a sessile frond-like animal (with the ‘head’ representing a holdfast). In the illustration I’m thinking of, a worm-Spriggina is crawling past a patch of quite different-looking frond-Spriggina.

]]> By: Zach Miller http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13071 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:54:42 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13071 Hmmm…if that includes papers, I’m gonna need copies, Brian. :-D

]]> By: laelaps http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13067 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:45:46 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13067 I remember first seeing it on my 2nd edition copy of The Dinosauria last year and not knowing what was going on (I didn’t recognize Confusciousornis either, though). It really is amazing how much our ideas of dinosaurs have changed; I just received a copy of the book/comic All New Dinosaurs and Their Friends from 1975, and although the dinosaurs are fairly advanced they’re still very different from the ones gracing magazine articles today. Even in Knight’s work, there’s a sort of evolution that goes on. I’m not sure of the dates (which I should look into), but one of his Tyrannosaurus paintings has a very lizard-like predator, looking like little more than a big lizard. The Tyrannosaurus/Triceratops face-off, however, has a very different carnivore than the earlier one. Then, of course, there’s the “Leapin’ Laelaps” painting that’s still one of my all-time favorites.

And not to give too much away, but I’ve heard from at least one paleo artist who might be sending in some goodies for my to put up here from time to time, so hopefully I’ll be able to share some things with you all in the near future.

]]> By: DoubleW http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13066 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:30:14 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13066 I remember first seeing a reconstruction of a psittacosaurus with bristles and, having not kept up with dinosaur science as I should, waved it off as an artist’s odd interpretation. Then I saw a second reconstruction by a different artist and realized I had missed something.

For a layman like myself, it’s fascinating how much our views about dinosaur appearance have changed in recent years as new discoveries have come to light. I have several non-fiction books about dinosaurs on my bookshelf, the oldest about 12 or 13 years old, where the illustrations seem as dated as a Charles R. Knight painting given what we now know (no offense to Knight).

]]> By: laelaps http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13001 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:36:47 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-13001 Thanks Zach. I actually just downloaded that paper, and I was going to include it although I felt it was a bit extraneous for this post. As for the bristles, I think they evolved independently as well, although I would love to know if other ceratopsians had such structures (if they were used for some defensive purpose, maybe not, at least not the big one). Short of Doc Brown showing up I don’t think I’ll get a chance to find out though…

]]> By: Zach Miller http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-12997 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:31:01 +0000 http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/the-bird-hipped-dinosaurs-finally-get-feathers-or-not/#comment-12997 Si-TAK-o-SORE-us. :-)

Anyway, nice little post summarizing the famous parrot dinosaur’s recent upheavels. Personally, I think that the bristles are analogous to porcupine barbs. The structures are round and hollow, after all, and banded. They could also be (and this is a long shot) modified Stage 1 Protofeathers, which would mean that the common ancestor of Psittacosaurus and Sinosauropteryx had Stage 1 Protofeathers. I think that Psittacosaurus’ bristles evolved independantly of feathers, but that’s a thought.

Also, head over to Acta Palaeontologica Polonica for a new Sereno paper detailing a new species of parrot lizard–Psittacosaurus major, whose head is 30% larger than other Psittacosaurus species, yet the body size is basically the same as its sister species. So we’re talking a bit ol’ head, here.

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