Friday, July 6, 2012

Speaking of Squirrelsaurus...

So... Thunder has posted a picture of "Squirrelsaurus" just about the time that a downy dinosaur dubbed Sciurumimus "squirrel mimic" has been revealed to the public. I, for one welcome our Squirrelsaurus overlords. The interesting thing about Sciurumimus is that, as a megalosaur, it is a basal theropod, so the presence of feathers indicates that feathers were not confined to the coelurosaurs. There's even evidence suggesting that at least some of the ornithischian dinosaurs were feathered.

Of course, it's been known for a long time that many of the smaller coelurosaurs were feathered, and there have even been educated guesses about the color of their plumage in some cases.

It's been a good week for science stories, so I have been extraordinarily happy boy lately!

6 comments:

  1. Welllllll.....

    Do you want dinosaurs raiding the bird feeder?

    I say the line has to be drawn somewhere.
    ~

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  2. Do you want dinosaurs raiding the bird feeder?

    Thunder, old chum, I've got some news for you...

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  4. I have been called a pedant -- a PEDANT!! -- for making the same point.
    http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/bioblog/2012/05/symphony-of-science-the-world.shtml#comments

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  5. Do you want dinosaurs raiding the bird feeder?

    YES. Obviously you haven't been to Cute Overload.

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  6. I have been called a pedant -- a PEDANT!! -- for making the same point.

    I think we need to form a Sexy Pedants club.

    YES. Obviously you haven't been to Cute Overload.

    The overload of cuteness fried his winetop.

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