This makes me happy. I was hoping it would be more Jugheady, but I’ll take what I can get.
Cool.
Wonder what kinky anatomy Winnipegatops had?
What about Reginasaurus?
The article says they have a good idea what Edmontosaurus skin looked like (from various fossil finds). Have they ruled out feathers? We know some smaller dinos had feathers, but I’m guessing the scientists would have noticed feathers if they were looking closely at mummified skin / skin impressions, so I’m leaning toward “no feathers,” but these animals seem more birdlike all the time.
I’m not surprised. I’ve been wondering for years about the existence on non-fossilizing features on dinosaurs. There’s been a lot of speculation about both such extravagances and about coloring over the past few decades. Before that, about the only thing I recall being suggested was a sort of membranous fin connecting the crest of the Parasauralophus with the back of its head. But in recent years I’ve seen wilder stuff (the “frill” around the Dilophosaurus head in the film Jurassic park, the more serious but arguably wilder suggestion that Triceratops had its frill virtually buried under stuff, big external ears on the (non-dinosaurian) pterosaurs, and the like.
Bow down before the mighty Torontosaurus Rex!
Whatever it had, it wasn’t game.
I think the bigger a dinosaur was, the less likely it had feathers, since insulation can actually be a problem when you get over a certain size. I don’t know if Edmontosaurus was over that magical size, or how cold the area was it inhabited. And, it could have had a few decorative patches of feathers regardless of the insulation argument.
I also know that this family of dinosaurs is by far the best represented in skin impressions, because of an apparently huge dead leaf/silt/mud patch in ancient Alberta/Montana that was great for making skin impressions. And I’ve never heard of these guys having feathers.
As far as I know the only dinosaurs we know for sure had feathers were the smaller carnivorous theropods. But I’m pretty confident that we will soon be able to confirm my cherished hypothesis that Tyrannosaurs were covered with fluffy yellow down like a baby duck.
To date, feathers have only been found in saurischian dinosaurs, and only theropods, at that (no feathered sauropods, as yet). As such, it’s doubtful that hadrosaurs (being derived ornithischians) would have sported feathers. So far, this is what we know about Edmontosaurus skin.
You must have missed this report from earlier this year about the discovery of a feathered tyrannosauroid.
No, I saw that article last year and on Facebook I was all like “See! See! And they called me mad at the Academy! Now with this evidence they will have to believe me! Fools! I’ll destroy them all!”
I like the cut of your jib! Never mind blowing up the moon…what will the authorities do when you raise a herd of hadrosaurs and overgraze Edmonton!?
What are we going to do when we find some dinosaur fossils buried with tools and religious symbols?
Trace the fresh footprints back to Ken Ham’s home.
[sidebar]The thread title reminds me of a story I was once told by a female acquaintance of mine. And where else am I going to put it except here?
Seems she was at a state fair and looking at the roosters. She noticed one especially resplendent specimen, and somewhat excited by the opportunity to say out loud the word “cock” in a non-sexual context, she intended to say “Oh, look at that cock’s comb!”
What actually came out, in a loud voice: “Oh, look at that rooster’s cock!”
In spite of her most fervent wishes, the floor did not open up and swallow her. [/sidebar]
Roddy