Skip to comments.
Living dinosaurs
abc.net.au ^
| 9/30/2002
Posted on 10/01/2002 8:32:43 AM PDT by 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]
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
TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: birds; crevolist; dinosaurs; evolution; paleontology
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 481-500, 501-520, 521-540 ... 601-602 next last
To: VadeRetro
vaperoni...
you call mutations "mainstream" any 'thing'---more like a morph-cess pool---
like a drone pond-school/puddle---factory---clone swamp---thing!
To: f.Christian
I'm warming up for the archaeologist...
gonna wager everything---
the whole farm on one bet!
Prove the age---composition of the earth...
no possible ties!
How and why mountains were formed---THE PROOF/prediction!
To: f.Christian
Seismology---tests...
can prove/disprove the age of mountains and the Earth...
or at least my theory about them!
Below the ground...there is a plate---DETECTABLE
that matches the perimeter of every mountain---range...
proving the mountain/hills(appalachia types/large openings)...
were formed from beneath---via the plate openings...
and resulted in triangular pointing up extruded masses with plate parts/residue on top.
The tops of the mountain/plateaus/buttes would match the original opening/crack in the plates!
The bottoms of the mountain would match where the plates stopped...
probably still touching!
To: f.Christian
You don't need to excavate the earth to know if this is true or not...
your own intelligence/science will explain it to you!
To: f.Christian
Evolution teaches everything washed out of mud ball!
To: f.Christian
I got more...lot's---BETTER!
To: PatrickHenry
Placemarker to skip over an ocean of drool.
To: f.Christian
I got more...lot's---BETTER! Next time, could you post the better stuff first?
To: VadeRetro; PatrickHenry
To: Virginia-American
Good thing it wasn't all wasted on us unworthies.
To: Virginia-American
He's becoming a bigger pest than medved. At least ol' Ted could write in complete sentences.
To: PatrickHenry
And Ebonics too!
To: VadeRetro
You have to admit, though, f has mastered Medved's technique of talking to himself.
513
posted on
10/04/2002 6:24:46 PM PDT
by
Gumlegs
To: Gumlegs
He's getting a little lonely. Medved, piltdownpig, RickyJ, peg_the_prophet, God's Traveler . . . OK, so at least two on that list are the same person!
To: balrog666
BTW, how do you like TLBSHOW's one-man-show over there? He just started a whole new thread over there to award JediGirl the "Whiner of the Week Award." What a class act!
To: PatrickHenry
He's becoming a bigger pest than medved.
Splifford the Bat says:
Always remember: A mind is a terrible thing to waste, especially on an evolutionist. JUST SAY NO to alcohol abuse, narcotic drugs, and corrupt ideological doctrines!
516
posted on
10/04/2002 7:22:54 PM PDT
by
AndrewC
To: VadeRetro
He's [f.christian] getting a little lonely. Medved, piltdownpig, RickyJ, peg_the_prophet, God's Traveler . . . Don't forget stingray. And there was another called knowquest, remember him? He kept posting one article after another copied from AIG and CRI. And don't forget good old No-Kin-To-Monkeys. What happened to those folks? But we still have annflounder. Lots of potential there.
To: PatrickHenry
Stingray hasn't been banned, he's just gone inactive. However, Uriel1975 seems to have resigned or otherwise left. Click on his username and you get a bright red "No account on file."
To: PatrickHenry
Darwinian "Schickelgruber" expert.
519
posted on
10/04/2002 7:33:50 PM PDT
by
AndrewC
To: balrog666; Heartlander
So, are you an ID/IOT proponent then?And you are STUPID(Sycophant Tactlessly Ululating Philosophies Inanely Darwinian(or Darwininian)!
520
posted on
10/04/2002 8:35:55 PM PDT
by
AndrewC
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 481-500, 501-520, 521-540 ... 601-602 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
