Dinosaur feathers!

[FBM]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8273938.stm

Dinosaurs had 'earliest feathers'

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News



Some of the fossils are exceptionally well preserved
Exceptionally well preserved dinosaur fossils uncovered in north-eastern China display the earliest known feathers.

The creatures are all more than 150 million years old.

The new finds are indisputably older than Archaeopteryx, the oldest recognised bird discovered in Germany.

Professor Xu Xing and colleagues tell the journal Nature that this represents the final proof that dinosaurs were ancestral to birds.

The theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs has always been troubled by the absence of feathers more ancient than those on the famous Archaeopteryx.

All over the skeleton, you see feathers

Xu Xing
This has given critics room to question the idea.

But the new fossils, which come from two separate locations, are in most cases about 10 million years older than the German bird discovered in the late 19th Century.

One of the dinosaurs, named Anchiornis huxleyi, is spectacular in its preservation.

It has extensive plumage covering its arms and tail, and also its feet - a "four-winged" arrangement, says Professor Xu from the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.

'Immensely exciting'

"The first specimen we discovered earlier this year was incomplete," he told BBC News.

"Based on that specimen, we named it Anchiornis; and we thought it was a close relative of birds. But then we got a second specimen, which was very complete - beautifully preserved.


Archaeopteryx held the "oldest bird" record - until now
"All over the skeleton, you see feathers.

"Based on this second specimen, we realised that this was a much more important species, and definitely one of the most important species for our understanding of the origin of birds and of their flight."

Professor Xu believes the four-winged shape may have been a very important stage in the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds.

Details of the latest discoveries have been presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, being held this year at the University of Bristol, UK.

The renowned Bristol palaeontologist Michael Benton said the announcement was immensely exciting.

"Drawing the tree of life, it's fairly obvious that feathers arose before Archaeopteryx appears in the fossil record," he told BBC News.

"Now these fantastic new discoveries by Professor Xu Xing prove that once and for all.

"These new discoveries are maybe 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Oh yeah? Where's the transitional fossils?

[Clinton Huxley]

One of the dinosaurs, named Anchiornis huxleyi, is spectacular in its preservation.

They named it after me!

[FBM]

Oh yeah? Where's the transitional fossils?

In transit.

[FBM]

One of the dinosaurs, named Anchiornis huxleyi, is spectacular in its preservation.

They named it after me!

I always thought you were a little flighty...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Oh yeah? Where's the transitional fossils?

In transit.

I'm waiting for them to demand a fossil that's human on the right and ape on the left. "Okay, scientists! Put up or shut up!"

[FBM]

Oh yeah? Where's the transitional fossils?

In transit.

I'm waiting for them to demand a fossil that's human on the right and ape on the left. "Okay, scientists! Put up or shut up!"

Not exactly, but I think it's worth a try:

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"No, I'm not giving you any lip. I don't have any to spare."

[FBM]

"No, I'm not giving you any lip. I don't have any to spare."

That was cruel and heartless.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...Professor Xu Xing and colleagues tell the journal Nature that this represents the final proof that dinosaurs were ancestral to birds...

I think we had the "final proof" some time ago.

But of course, we need a snappy (if inaccurate) soundbite to feed the media, don't we?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

...Professor Xu Xing and colleagues tell the journal Nature that this represents the final proof that dinosaurs were ancestral to birds...

I think we had the "final proof" some time ago.

But of course, we need a snappy (if inaccurate) soundbite to feed the media, don't we?

It's the old academic rule, "Publish or parsnip".

[FBM]

I think we had the "final proof" some time ago.

But of course, we need a snappy (if inaccurate) soundbite to feed the media, don't we?

In Red China, it's not 'final proof' until a Chinese researcher 'discovers' it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I think we had the "final proof" some time ago.

But of course, we need a snappy (if inaccurate) soundbite to feed the media, don't we?

In Red China, it's not 'final proof' until a Chinese researcher 'discovers' it.

As the only "real"residents of the Middle Kingdom, and the only civilized people on Earth, that would be a given, would it not?

[FBM]

As the only "real"residents of the Middle Kingdom, and the only civilized people on Earth, that would be a given, would it not?

It would. We would also be guilty of being pots calling the kettle black...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

As the only "real"residents of the Middle Kingdom, and the only civilized people on Earth, that would be a given, would it not?

It would. We would also be guilty of being pots calling the kettle black...

Everybody thinks they're the center of the Universe, so there's a lot of kettles out there.