Pictures: Dinosaur True Colors Revealed by Feather Find

[Roland99]

Source: National Geographic

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F4_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNFTCl4wFY4XnKnPnQPA3AWD-uN6Cg&cid=8797493153262&ei=dotgS9DYO5GK8ASvp-7sAg&rt=HOMEPAGE&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.nationalgeographic.com%2Fnews%2F2010%2F01%2Fphotogalleries%2F100127-new-dinosaur-colors-feathers-nature-pictures%2F

First True-Color Dinosaur

Sinosauropteryx, a turkey-size carnivorous dinosaur, is the first dinosaur—excluding birds, which many paleontologists consider to be dinosaurs—to have its color scientifically established.

In 1996, Sinosauropteryx was also the first dinosaur reported to have feathers. It was found in the Yixian formation, 130- to 123-million-year-old sediments in Liaoning Province in northeast China, which have since produced thousands of apparently feathery fossils.

In a report released online today by the journal Nature, an international team of paleontologists and experts in scanning electron micrography infer that this dinosaur had reddish orange feathers running along its back and a striped tail. (Read the full story: "True Dinosaur Colors Revealed for the First Time.")

Why would a dinosaur need a striped tail? Many birds, the living descendants of non-avian dinosaurs, use brightly colored tails for courtship displays.

Read more: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F4_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNFTCl4wFY4XnKnPnQPA3AWD-uN6Cg&cid=8797493153262&ei=dotgS9DYO5GK8ASvp-7sAg&rt=HOMEPAGE&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.nationalgeographic.com%2Fnews%2F2010%2F01%2Fphotogalleries%2F10

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More detail:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100127-dinosaur-feathers-colors-nature/
(if you can get the link to come up)


Pretty sweet!

[YOY]

1. This leads us to the questions: Did Jesus' Dinosaur need to be plucked in order to be ridden?

n/t

[MineralMan]

2. No sex threads on DU, please.

:rofl:

[Rozlee]

6. There goes DU

:cry:

[theblasmo]

3. That's What She Asked! n/t

[Javaman]

15. huh, so it's called plucking now. Man, I'm getting old. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

4. What a pretty feather! I think I found one of those in my back yard.

[MineralMan]

5. Run away! Run away!

[alfredo]

7. An image of the Dino/bird doing the hokey pokey

[Roland99]

8. It's not the...

Chicken Dance?


;-)

[alfredo]

11. Naw, they are in the "you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around"

part of the song.

[MineralMan]

10. Nope. They just noticed that Jesus was about to step on them.

These are little dinos, after all.

[alfredo]

12. He wasn't satisfied with walking on water.

[Jamastiene]

17. So, THAT is where the Dinos in our Congress learned how to do

kabuki theater.

:evilgrin:

:hide:

[alfredo]

18. They've had eons to learn their lines well.

[AngryAmish]

9. Pervert dinosaurs?

Now I have seen everything on DU.

[MilesColtrane]

13. "brightly colored tails for courtship displays."

Peacock dinosaurs?

They should have called that thing the NBCasauras.

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. Great! (Yes, I'm old enough to get that)

[Odin2005]

16. That is COOL!

[AlienGirl]

19. HOT DAMN!! Great coloration!

There's a therapod climbing into my shirt as I type...

Tucker

[M155Y_A1CH]

20. Kick

For the night shift.
:kick: