The ferocious Velociraptor, made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, was probably covered in feathers.
A re-assessment of a fossil forearm unearthed in Mongolia in 1998 has revealed an array of small bumps.

In modern birds, such "quill knobs" are the locations where secondary feathers, the flight or wing feathers, are anchored to the bone with ligaments.

The American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History report their study in Science magazine.

Quill knobs on living bird species are most evident in strong flyers. Those birds that primarily soar or that have lost the ability to fly entirely, however, typically lack signs of quill knobs, the research team says.

"A lack of quill knobs does not necessarily mean that a dinosaur did not have feathers," explained Alan Turner, from the AMNH and Columbia University, New York, US.

"Finding quill knobs on Velociraptor, though, means that it definitely had feathers. This is something we'd long suspected, but no one had been able to prove."

Down to size

The Mongolian Velociraptor specimen's short arms indicate that the creature itself could not fly; but its feathers may have been useful for display, to shield nests, for temperature control or to help it manoeuvre while running, the team says.

The latest study will undoubtedly alter the perceptions some people have built up of the beast thanks to the successful movie franchise.

bbc

Those big feathers might make for a very nice blanky and pillows!

LOL, yeah, keep us warm on our cold winter nights up here. Or they would be great writing plumes!

Very big plumes! They would probably tickle your nose everytime you tried to write something!

That could be a great scene in a movie! LOL

Yeah, something Monty Pythonish!

LOL, that's what popped in my head!

Very interesting ..

Now I have to create an image of it all over again lol .


This time with feathers !

*Falls asleep and imagines*

I don't know which would be scarier, with or without feathers.

feathers eh? so they were velocyflyingraptors? it's like a bird being chased by a flying cat..

after seeing that in movie,i cant imagine that it would had feathers...........actually it didnt match.ok,anyway now this is true.....................
very interesting

I really don't like teh idea of Dinosaurs with feathers, it just takes away from their allure in my eyes.

But seeing as how feathers are just specialized scales I guess it makes sense.

I'm not really keen on the idea either. The solution? Go watch the Jurassic Park trilogy to reaffirm my belief that velociraptors were 6 feet tall and scaly...

No, feathers where originally for regulating body temperature. There's a school of thought that says that flight was an accidental by product.

even if they didn't fly, feathers and teeth are a freaky combination.