Today my bio professor showed us this: a very new development (released for the first time today, in fact) in the study of Microraptor, a dinosaur--that's right, dinosaur-- that existed approximately 120 million years ago. Perhaps you aren't aware (as I wasn't) that nowadays scientists know that many dinosaurs were actually feathered; a fact that would have been unknown a mere decade or two ago.
Of course, since you are on my blog, you wont be surprised to know that Microraptor was one of these feathered creatures, and as this new discovery suggests, would have had black, iridescent plumage not unlike the modern day crow. The fossil evidence for this theory was unearthed in northeastern China, from which scientists garnered a clear picture of the Microraptor's structural form, as well as some feather material whose pigment-bearing structures suggest the color they most likely retained. The whole creature was only about pigeon-sized.
Just check this thing out:
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| Mick Ellison, American Museum of Natural History, Science |
Reasons Microraptor is a dinosaur and not a bird:
- It has claws at the crests of its primary wings.
- It has a mouth full of teeth.
- It has a long, vertebrate tail.
- It has a second pair of wings- on its legs!
The creature, as its name suggests, is structurally found to be much closer to a Velociraptor than any bird. It also most likely didn't fly, only glided.
Here is an artist's rendition of what it most likely looked like, along with the unearthed fossil:
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Jason Brougham/University of Texas; Mick Ellison (inset)
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Obviously I'm fascinated by this, and completely astounded at how it managed to reach me so immediately. Where and how this information and imagery will manifest in my work, i have no idea- but surely it will.
All information and images are:
via Science magazine
via Kansas City Star
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