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Therapod dinosaurs’ thermal blankets: highly detailed feathers found in Alberta

Denyse O'Leary
September 15, 2011
Evolution
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File:Spider in amber (1).jpg
Amber permits 3D detail/Elizabeth in the Netherlands

In “Dinosaur feathers found in Alberta amber” ( CBC News, Sep 15, 2011), Emily Chung reports,

Feathers believed to be from dinosaurs have been found beautifully preserved in Alberta amber.

The primitive, hair-like feathers known as protofeathers likely belonged to theropods — dinosaurs similar to tiny Tyrannosaurus rexes — that roamed the swampy forests of Alberta 80 million years ago

It was known that therapods had feathers, but no find has been this clear. The actual feather is encased in amber, not just an impression.

The feathers are preserved down to the pigments that show what colour they are and microscopic details of their structure.

They will tell us a lot, but this much we know already: The protofeathers likely kept dinosaurs warm and were not suited to flight.

See also: “Dinobird: Practically anything, no matter how false or ridiculous, is given serious attention in the science press as long as it appears to support Darwinism” This find is great because it can provide answers rather than approved theories.

Comments
notes on this topic:
No Evidence For Birds Evolving From (or to) Anything https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1UF3DhlUnDM0Qrwh8ZmyLJA2r9hGFvHjoXki6WTzYg5M
bornagain77
September 16, 2011
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For a bit more balanced interpretation of this find, check out this article: http://crev.info/content/110915-grebe_left_imaginary_dinosaur_feathers_in_amber Here are some questions(taken from the above article) to ask yourself after reading the article: "Let’s ask a few questions that most reporters are not asking (thank Live Science for bringing a little sobriety to the party). Did they find any dinosaur in the Grassy Lake strata with feathers on it? No. Did they find any dinosaur with feathers anywhere in Canada? Did they find any dinosaur with feathers anywhere in the western hemisphere? Did they find a succession of feathers, increasing in complexity, from deep strata to shallower strata? No. Did any of the feathers have a tag on them, saying, “Property of Susie, the T. Rex”? No. Are simple filaments and tufts diagnostic of dinosaurs? No. Do some birds have simple filaments like these? Yes. Do some birds have all five stages of feathers described in the “currently accepted evolutionary-developmental model for feathers”? Yes. Is the currently accepted evolutionary-developmental model for feathers a case of circular reasoning? Yes. Is the motivation to force data into an evolutionary model strong? Yes. Are the only non-avian theropod “feathered dinosaurs” found in China (land of the Archaeoraptor hoax that dragged National Geographic to the confessional), brought to you courtesy of Xing Xu, the scientific wunderkind who has a knack for finding them in collector shops? Yes. Is it odd to think that feathered dinosaurs flew from China to Canada, leaving no trace? Yes. Are reporters loaded like catapults to launch headlines into cyberspace at any hint of a vindication for Charlie? Yes. Are reporters too lazy to check the data and do their own analysis? Yes, with few exceptions (like here, and once again, thanks to Live Science for showing some restraint). "tjguy
September 16, 2011
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