Velociraptor Had Feathers!

Because Oddjob knows me so well, he forwarded this article, undoubtedly knowing I would immediately geek out excitedly. And so I have. Tres cool:

The vicious little dinosaur Velociraptor was a feathered fiend, according to scientists who found evidence of quills on this well-known meat-eater's forearm.

In research published on Thursday, paleontologists said a forearm bone of Velociraptor found in Mongolia's desolate Gobi desert retained structures, or quill knobs, where a series of feathers were anchored to the bone with ligaments.

No actual fossils of the feathers were found, but the researchers said quill knobs would not exist without feathers. They are present in many bird species alive today.

Best Quote goes to Alan Turner of at the American Museum of Natural History: "If a person saw a Velociraptor today, they would say: What the heck is that? It's some really weird bird!"

What I love most about this story is how it takes me back to being a little kid, manning the control station at the nerdery (i.e. my bedroom), where I would flip through science books and Ranger Rick articles on extinct species, letting my eyes linger on the T Rex's formidable scales and wondering: "How do they know? What if they were furry…?"

To read now that "larger predators, perhaps even Tyrannosaurus rex, may have had feathers or downy 'protofeathers,' at least as juveniles" is just really cool. Such a "never stop learning" moment.

Anyway, the article reminded me of a picture I saw recently at Violet's place:


Violet notes that the picture credit goes to "Hungarian nature photographer Bence Máté. The two grey herons were fighting over a fish (they both lost — the fish fell to the ice and another heron snapped it up). All I can think is: they look like such dinosaurs! Just so gratifyingly dinosaury."

Gratifyingly dinosaury. I love that.