Comments on: Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?

By: John Patterson

John Patterson — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:31:39 +0000

Stegosaurus. Tyrannosaurus rex. Triceratops. Diplodocus. Carnotaurus. Edmontosaurus. Saltasaurus. Saurolophus. Parasaurolophus. Corythosaurus. Iguanodon.

These are many of the dinosaur genera that have been found with skin impressions. Skin impressions that show non-overlapping scales. No feathers.

Not feathers. Scales. You even wrote a blog post featuring one of them. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/judging-a-dinosaur-by-its-cover/

Yes, feathers do seem to be quite widespread on the theropod side. But there’s not really a case for the same feature in Ornithiscians. As far as we know, those are just the equivalent of bristles or porcupine quills, which are nothing like feathers. It’s just a different form of body ornamentation that doesn’t readily fossilize, like the dermal spines on certain sauropods.

If you’re going to write a blog post titled “Did ALL dinosaurs have feathers?” please at least remember to mention these genera and say no, we already know that feathers may have been common in theropods, but they were by no means universal in the Dinosauria.

I wonder when someone’s going to go completely over the edge and start calling Diplodocus’s dermal spines “protofeathers.”

By: Troodon

Troodon — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 22:07:05 +0000

Just a minor nitpick, here; Sciurumimus was actually a megalosauroid, rather than a carnosaur. This makes the discovery of possible feather-like structures on the Sciurumimus fossil even more significant, because megalosauroids are believed to be less closely-related to birds, than the carnosaurs are.

Personally, I am of the opinion that the ancestral dinosaur most likely had already evolved very primitive feathers. In fact, as time goes by, and the more dinosaur discoveries are made, the harder it becomes for me to separate ‘non-avian dinosaur’ from ‘bird’!

By: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:12:54 +0000

Actually, if Sciurumimus is a megalosaur as proposed, it moves theropodan protofeathers down from Coelurosauria past the Carnosauria-Coelurosauria node Avetheropoda to the Avetheropoda-Megalosauroidea node (recently named the Orionides, or “hunters”).

By: Brian Choo

Brian Choo — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:07:41 +0000

Outstanding summary of an outstanding discovery as per usual. But when you state “…moved down a branch to a group called the Carnosauria.”, shouldn’t you mean a broader grouping (Tetanurae or at least Orionides?)since megalosaurs are basal to carnosaurs + coelurosaurs?

By: jurassiraptor

jurassiraptor — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 05:18:05 +0000

An intriguing idea. One of my all time favorite triceratops illustrations is the bristley beast here: http://fav.me/d4xlwka

But, haven’t we found fossilized dinosaur skin imprints that show bare, featherless (or “fuzzless”) scales? The mummified Dakota supposedly had even soft tissue such as muscle and organs preserved, but no trace of feathers.

Modern large mammals, such as elephants, rhinos, and hippos, aren’t covered in the same shaggy coats as smaller mammals, as the amount of body heat an animal generates increases with size. And it’s difficult enough to stay cool on a hot day in the savannah even without a fur coat. I would assume then — that for large dinosaurs, at least (and especially sauropods) — that any kind of fur, fuzz or feathers would be even more of a hinderance.

Or perhaps there were feathered and unfeathered variation within a genus, depending on climate? It is indeed an exciting concept to think about.

By: Cody Burkett

Cody Burkett — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:40:19 +0000

I may need to paint a fuzzy sauropod….or an especially bristly stegosaur. It would probably go well with the Talos I painted…

Has anyone found skin impressions from the stegosaur family, come to think of it?

By: Henrique Niza

Henrique Niza — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:58:18 +0000

At the moment is parsimonious to say feather like structures are homologous to all dinosauria. Whether they also are to the last common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs I believe it’s too early to tell.

By: El PaleoFreak

El PaleoFreak — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:48:29 +0000

“but no one calls their filaments “fuzz.””

Yes, lots of people do. Just google it. Example:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/03/18/new-fossil-suggests-that-fuzzy-dinosaurs-were-plentiful/