Living dinosaurs

abc.net.au ^ | 9/30/2002

[SteveH]

News in Science

News in Science 30/9/2002 Living dinosaurs

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s687677.htm]

	Model of Sinosauropteryx sprima (pronounced 'sine-oh-saw-op-te-rix pree-ma')made by Alan Groves working with palaeontologists Drs Walter Boles and Sue Hand.

If we are to believe the message of a new exhibit demonstrating the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds, dinosaurs are not extinct.

Four life-sized reconstructions of ferocious-looking, smart-thinking, flesh-eating feathered dinosaurs – representing 125 million-year-old missing links between dinosaurs and birds – have landed at the Australian Museum in Sydney as part of the Chinese Dinosaurs exhibition.

"The birds we see flying around our backyards are actually living dinosaurs, descendants of prehistoric beasts we all once presumed became extinct 65 million years ago," said museum director, Professor Mike Archer.

"But feathers were evolving as dinosaur attributes long before they became valuable as flight structures," he said.

"Indeed fossils uncovered in the Liaoning Province of China have provided a whole sequence of missing links in the dinosaur to bird story."

Model of Sinornithosaurus smillenii (pronounced 'sine-or-nith-oh-saw-rus mill-en-ee-eye) made by Alan Groves working with palaeontologists Drs Walter Boles and Sue Hand.
 

One of the earlier links is Sinosauropteryx prima. The creature is covered with what looks to be a fine fuzz but are really small barbs – a link between scales and feathers.

"It's a metre-long, meat-eating, ground-dwelling predator, closely related to the dinosaur in Jurassic Park II which ate the little girl on the beach," said Professor Archer.

He speculated these very early feathers were probably for insulation since this group was almost certainly warm blooded.

The Sinornithosaurus millenii (top picture) embodies a later link.

"This is a very vicious little predator about a metre long. But here the feathers are much larger – although they're not fully formed or capable of flight," said Professor Archer.

An interesting characteristic of the creature was its capacity to lift its arms over its head in a flapping motion. Professor Archer said scientists assumed its array of feathers had a purpose – to frighten predators, help capture prey, attract mates or threaten male competitors.

The next stage – the development of feathers for flight – is seen in creatures like the Archseopteryx, a smaller animal than Sinornithosaurus millenii with longer and assymetrical feathers.

While there has been some debate as to whether dinosaurs (unlike other groups of reptiles) are the ancestors of birds, Professor Archer believes since 1996 there has been no strong argument against the hypothesis.

"I don't know anyone who is still holding out on this one," he said. "Other than the creationists of course who don't want anything to be ancestral to birds."

Chinese Dinosaurs is open until February next year. The dino-bird exhibit is sponsored by The Australian Skeptics.

Anna Salleh - ABC Science Online

More Info?

British Natural History Museum Dino-Birds Exhibition

Missing link from fur to feathers – News in Science 27/4/2001

Dinosaur fossil with proto-feathers – News in Science 8/3/2001

Dinosaur-bird theory defended – News in Science 24/11/2000

© ABC 2002 | privacy

[f.Christian]

For you...certainly!

[f.Christian]

Ape-ancestry

[Heartlander]

Ape-ancestry rejectionism? Tough! That's the way it happened.

Keep making my point big guy.
Hey, have you made that call to the President?

[Northeast]

Wow. This is quickly turning ugly. Let me share my point of view on the whole argument, if anyone cares.

In the beginning, God created the universe via the Big Bang. From that moment of creation, to today, and beyond to the end of time is the great adventure we have been given to explore and exploit for our own purposes - good or evil.

The science that creationists so rabidly fight against (evolution, astrophysics, etc) is nothing more than man exploring the mechanism of Gods creation, learning its rules, exploring its past and our history. And we have done pretty well in the past 200 years. In medicine, physics, evolutionary study, archeology, geology, chemistry, etc.

And before the strict 6000 year earth creationists begin composing those flames you better think twice. The very reason you can push the keys on your keyboard, have letters appear before your eyes, and push the post button to send your belief to the eyes of an individual a continent away is because of all we have learned about how this creation came to be. Atomic theory and quantum mechanics contribute every day to our lives. But thier pupose is to answer the questions; How did it happen, and what will happen next?

There is a creator. And the great adventure of our very existence is learning all we can about the marvel of his creation -- Past, present, and future. And using that knowledge to advance ourselves as a civilization.

/end soapbox.

We now return you to the regularly scheduled thread.

Regards

[f.Christian]

Ape rhetoric!

[Northeast]

Ape rhetoric!

LOL, Well now there's a well thought out rejoinder!

[VadeRetro]

Sounds good to me. I once naively thought that, if you just got people past that "Earth-is-6000-years-old" silliness, they've made the big jump and can take science as it comes. Sadly wrong.

[VadeRetro]

Keep making my point big guy.

Heck, even you are afraid to make any point but "It can't be evolution! I won't accept it!"

Your distaste for having hairy ancestors, or whatever's really going on with you, is irrelevant to science and the teaching thereof.

[f.Christian]

To: f.Christian

Now I follow, thank you. Actually, I don't disagree with this at all since I see the left as abandoning the uncertianty of democracy and majority rule for the assurance technocracy and expert rule.

152 posted on 9/10/02 12:17 PM Pacific by Liberal Classic

---

[Heartlander]

Great post!

There is a creator. And the great adventure of our very existence is learning all we can about the marvel of his creation -- Past, present, and future. And using that knowledge to advance ourselves as a civilization.

Well stated…

[Northeast]

"I see the left as abandoning the uncertianty of democracy and majority rule for the assurance technocracy and expert rule."

Democracy and majority rule are 3 wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner. I live in a Constitutional Republic. We don't practice majority rule.

And if technology bothers you so much, it's time for you to throw out your computer, sell your car, sell your house, get a Visa and move to a country where you can live in squalor trying to convert natives that have not heard the Word.

Your rhetoric isn't gonna fly with me.

[Heartlander]

Your distaste for having hairy ancestors,…

So you’ve met my in-laws, ehh? Just kidding… Where I came from doesn’t bother me – it’s who I am now that is important.

[f.Christian]

It wasn't exatly my qoute...

heres's what it was in reference too---

Creation/God...REFORMATION(Judeo-Christianity)---secular-govt.-humanism/SCIENCE---CIVILIZATION!

Originally the word liberal meant social conservatives(no govt religion--none) who advocated growth and progress---mostly technological(knowledge being absolute/unchanging)based on law--reality... UNDER GOD---the nature of GOD/man/govt. does not change. These were the Classical liberals...founding fathers-PRINCIPLES---stable/SANE scientific reality/society---industrial progress...moral/social character-values(private/personal) GROWTH(limited NON-intrusive PC Govt/religion---schools)!

Evolution...Atheism-dehumanism---TYRANNY(pc-religion/rhetoric)...

Then came the SPLIT SCHIZOPHRENIA/ZOMBIE/BRAVE-NWO1984 LIBERAL NEO-America---the post-modern age

[<1/1,000,000th%]

“Biblical authoritarian terms”? Hmmm. You keep interjecting this Creationist/Christianity thing.

Most forms of ID require a creator. Since no Muslims, Hindus or anybody else argue for Creationism, its logical to assume that the Creator is the Christian God. I believe that the Creator is the Christian God, but I have not found that ID is scientific. I am still reviewing the data.

[Northeast]

I've always had a tough time uderstanding why people have problems between science and religion. Rather than searching for the compatibility of the two, they focus on the differences.

This happens on both sides. The "The Book Says" crowd and the "There is no God but Science" crowd.

I dunno. Seems clear enough to me. But you are one patient soul!

Regards

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I second your post!

[Northeast]

Re-read your quote of someone elses post to me. If it's not what you mean then don't bother posting it.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Now I follow, thank you. Actually, I don't disagree with this at all since I see the left as abandoning the uncertainty of democracy and majority rule for the assurance technocracy and expert rule.

I agree that this is happening as well. All the more reason for Christians and people of faith to participate in science and politics to combat this trend.

[f.Christian]

We are a democracy too...the constitution is changeable by a 2/3's majority!

Election---votes!

[Heartlander]

Most forms of ID require a creator.

I agree, but nature can be a creator and when nature is called ‘the’ creator is when I call foul to those who criticize Christianity.
The theist evolutionist (many of my friends) still believes that there is purpose, direction, and a definite intelligence behind the whole operation. This is a straddle with ID an Darwin.