What we are learning is that feathers were an early and likelynecessary adaptation for land animals operating away from the waterside during day time. We have exceptions but they are not nearly assuccessful. The Komodo Dragon is not going to invade the Greatplains anytime soon.
We have gone from doubting their existence to finding themeverywhere. We have also discovered that the descendants of thedinosaurs are around us in plain sight. It is time to quitattempting to sustain our present paradigms and rethink them on thebasis of a very early emergence of feathering.
It is all good.
New dinosaur fossilchallenges bird evolution theory
by Staff Writers
Southampton UK(SPX) Feb 04, 2013
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_dinosaur_fossil_challenges_bird_evolution_theory_999.html
The discovery of a newbird-like dinosaur from the Jurassic period challenges widelyaccepted theories on the origin of flight.
Co-authored by DrGareth Dyke, Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Palaeontology at theUniversity of Southampton, the paper describes a new feathereddinosaur about 30 cm in length which pre-dates bird-like dinosaursthat birds were long thought to have evolved from.
Over many years, ithas become accepted among palaeontologists that birds evolved from agroup of dinosaurs called theropods from the Early Cretaceous periodof Earth's history, around 120-130 million years ago. Recentdiscoveries of feathered dinosaurs from the older Middle-LateJurassic period have reinforced this theory.
The new'bird-dinosaur' Eosinopteryx described in Nature Communications thisweek provides additional evidence to this effect.
"This discoverysheds further doubt on the theory that the famous fossilArchaeopteryx - or "first bird" as it is sometimes referredto - was pivotal in the evolution of modern birds," says DrDyke, who is based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
"Our findingssuggest that the origin of flight was much more complex thanpreviously thought."
The fossilised remainsfound in north-eastern China indicate that, while feathered, this wasa flightless dinosaur, because of its small wingspan and a bonestructure that would have restricted its ability to flap its wings.
The dinosaur also hadtoes suited to walking along the ground and fewer feathers on itstail and lower legs, which would have made it easier to run.
Dr Gareth Dyke is alsoProgramme Leader for a new one-year MRes in Vertebrate Palaeontology,which offers potential students the chance to study the evolution andanatomy of vertebrates, in order to inform and increase ourunderstanding of the workings of modern day creatures.
Dr Dyke's co-authorsare Pascal Godefroit of the Royal Belgian Institute of NaturalSciences, Helena Demuynck of Earth System Science Vrije UniversiteitBrussel, Dongyu Hu of Paleontological Institute Shenyang NormalUniversity China and Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology NortheastNormal University China, Francois Escuillie of Eldonia France andPhilippe Claeys of Jilin University Geological Museum China. Papercan be found here.
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