Fluffy

[poliphilo]

The dinosaurs weren't wiped out by a meteor. Or anything else. Instead they grew wings and flew up out of harm's way.

The fluffy little robin in the holly bush was once a velociraptor.

Maybe that's why I'm so fond of him.

Once it's pointed out, the link is obvious. Birds have a dinosaur attitude. See how the strut!

And the dinosaurs that are being uncovered in China had feathers. They were flightless, but they had feathers. It's not impossible that ALL dinosaurs- or at least all dinosaurs of the raptor kind- had feathers.

Which would mean they were always birds. A bird is not so much a dinosaur that has evolved as a dinosaur is an early kind of bird.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I love thinking about this!

I seem to have heard about a new dinosaur discovery this week--was it in China? With feathers?

How exciting. I had heard about the bird and dinosaur connection before.

Even if they were flightless (being huge and non-light-boned), maybe the wings helped with balance as they lumbered along.

But if they were in fights (the more predatory versions), wouldn't their wings be torn?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The ones they're finding in China don't have wings as such. They have a downy covering all over and long feathers on their tails and forearms. They're thinking about flight but haven't quite got there yet.

It looks like feathers were originally for insulation.

There's a strong possibility that T Rex may have been all feathery. What a sight that would have been!

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I think that it's a certainty that some dinosaurs did evolve into birds, isn't it? Or have I confused fact with fiction? I'm pretty sure I haven't.

We know that there were flying dinosaurs, so it's not at all far-fetched to assume that birds evolved from them. I would imagine that the feathers were an evolutionary response to...well, I could only hazard a guess that it was against increasing cold.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Nothing to do with prehistory can be ABSOLUTELY certain, but it's the current scientific orthodoxy that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

And the discovery of all these feathered dinosaurs in China makes it more and more likely.

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

Ah, so there really was such a thing as a 500-pound canary ... :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeedy!