Giant feathered dinosaur discovered in China

[Still Waters]

A species of giant feathered dinosaur, named Yutyrannus, that weighed as much as a car and was related to the Tyrannosaurus rex has been discovered in China.

It is by far the biggest feathered dinosaur ever to have been unearthed and raises intriguing questions as to why some of these scaly reptiles developed plumage.

Three nearly complete skeletons of the dinosaur have been uncovered in beds of sediment in Liaoning province, northeastern China, scientists reported in Nature.

The soil has been dated to around 125 million years ago to the mid-Cretaceous period, at the peak of the dinosaurs' long reign over the planet.

The new species has been named Yutyrannus huali, an amalgam of Latin and Mandarin which means "beautiful feathered tyrant."

Read more...

[pallidin]

Dang, I would have never thought. Good article read.

[CRIPTIC CHAMELEON]

Feathers for insulation & decoration as well as sexual displays,sounds okay to me.

[SPETSNAZ95]

Giant chicken!

[readerlurker]

Must have had impressive chicken nuggets!

[wingyflam]

would have taken some plucking

[wingyflam]

would have taken some plucking

[Taun]

I realize that scientists have revised the image of some dino's by adding feathers - most notibly the Velocoraptor, and I suppose they are correct...

But dang I sure liked them better when they were 'lizardy'...

[Abramelin]

I realize that scientists have revised the image of some dino's by adding feathers - most notibly the Velocoraptor, and I suppose they are correct...

But dang I sure liked them better when they were 'lizardy'...

Next revision will be the addition of long pointed ears, lol.

[AbsurdistMe]

Almost want to pet one... almost.

[lightly]

Feathers = warm blooded? *Soft fuzzy dinosaurs .. this will take some getting used to.

Edited April 7, 2012 by lightly

[Anne-Marie]

Tis a shame the article didn't show a photo of the actual findings instead of just an artists impression.

[Abramelin]

Tis a shame the article didn't show a photo of the actual findings instead of just an artists impression.

Here they are: http://www.xinglida.net/pdf/Xu_et_al_2012_Yutyrannus.pdf

[TerryZ]

Feathers, warm blooded ... how about agile, intelligent and hunting in packs. Recent findings don't make them less fearsome.

We are learning more and more about dinosaurs every day. You can see it in the peer-reviewed publications across the net and in the journals. Consider that the human species has been evolving for around a million years. The creatures of the Cretaceous, the last era before the K-T extinction, had a hundred times that long to evolve.

There's increasing amounts of fossil as well as extrapolated evidence to confirm not only feathers but also revise our thinking about their intelligence, agility and social characteristics of these animals. T-Rex for example is now recognized to have significant family and social ties. They are also now known to be faster, more agile and smarter than we thought.

Many of the predators, including T-Rex, are known to hunt in packs, a social characteristic that requires not only intelligence but communications.Many of the studies of intelligence relied on brain casing volume-ratios to estimate intelligence. Yet recent work with African Grey Parrots show them to be capable of intelligent conversation and even deductive reasoning.

We are learning more and more about dinosaur society from track lines and nesting sites. The population of the late Creataceous was much more than the simple minded reptilian brutes that people have envisioned in the past. Like dolphins, they may not have thought like we do but they apparently were intelligent. The question now is just how intelligent?The question of dinosaur feathers surfaces more and more every day.

At first it was thought only the theropods (bird ancestors) supported them. Now there is strong evidence and even amber samples of non-theropod feathered structures (Scientific American blog). The question has progressed from "whether or not" to "how much and how well developed".

If you are really interested in this topic I suggest you visit my web site. I've published two novels that are fictional but different in that they clearly reference and follow the current publications on these topics. The novels are a fun way to absorb the science and each chapter has references and commentary to clearly delineate fact from fiction. They are available on Amazon, B&N or on the website at:

http://gravidynamics.net/Books.htm

Edited April 12, 2012 by TerryZ