Dinosaur feather evolution trapped in Canadian amber

[Pappa]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14933298

Samples of amber in western Canada containing feathers from dinosaurs and birds have yielded the most complete story of feather evolution ever seen.

Eleven fragments show the progression from hair-like "filaments" to doubly-branched feathers of modern birds.

The analysis of the 80-million-year-old amber deposits is presented in Science.

An accompanying article showcases a new method that has revealed that feathered dinosaurs would have been brightly coloured.

Recent years have seen a proliferation of reports about the beginnings of feathers as we know them now in birds.

So-called compression fossils found in China bear outlines of primitive "filament" feathers that are more akin to hair.

But modern feathers are highly branched and structured, and the full story of how those came to be had not yet been revealed by the fossil record.

Now a study of amber found near Grassy Lake in Alberta - dated from what is known as the Late Cretaceous period - has unearthed a full range of feather structures that demonstrate the progression.
Grassy Lake map

"We're finding two ends of the evolutionary development that had been proposed for feathers trapped in the same amber deposit," said Ryan McKellar of the University of Alberta, lead author of the report.

The team's find confirms that the filaments progressed to tufts of filaments from a single origin, called barbs. In later development, some of these barbs can coalesce into a central branch called a rachis.

"We've got feathers that look to be little filamentous hair-like feathers, we've got the same filaments bound together in clumps, and then we've got a series that are for all intents and purposes identical to modern feathers," Dr McKellar told BBC News.

"We're catching some that look to be dinosaur feathers and another set that are pretty much dead ringers for modern birds."

[FBM]

For every transitional fossil you produce, you create another gap in the fossil record.

[Clinton Huxley]

Nice. That's science, that is.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Samples of amber in western Canada containing feathers from dinosaurs and birds have yielded the most complete story of feather evolution ever seen...

"Dinosaurs and birds"? that's an odd phrase. It's a bit like "planets and Saturn" or "hot drinks and tea" or "tosspots and Piers Morgan". - The later is included in the former.

...An accompanying article showcases a new method that has revealed that feathered dinosaurs would have been brightly coloured...

Many still are...

[Clinton Huxley]

Here we go again....

[Pappa]

"Dinosaurs and birds"? that's an odd phrase. It's a bit like "planets and Saturn" or "hot drinks and tea" or "tosspots and Piers Morgan". - The later is included in the former.

Only in a certain sense. Most biologists don't consider birds to be dinosaurs even if they are directly descended from them. It is easy to think of them as dinos that can fly, but they do differ in other specific ways too.

Though, I do like referring to them as dinosaurs myself too.

[Pappa]

It's in the Daily Mail so it must be true.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... saurs.html

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...It is easy to think of them as dinos that can fly, but they do differ in other specific ways too...

But surely all dinosaurs differ from all other dinosaurs in specific ways?


Try rewording what you just said,

Most biologists don't consider stegosaurs to be dinosaurs even if they are directly descended from them. It is easy to think of them as dinos that have plates and spines, but they do differ in other specific ways too.

Or

Most biologists don't consider Trochilidae to be birds even if they are directly descended from them. It is easy to think of them as birds that can hover, but they do differ in other specific ways too.

[FBM]

Nice. That's science, that is.

But science is just another religion, so why should I believe what scientists say? Just because of "evidence?" Pssshh. Belief in the efficacy of evidence is just another faith-based assertion. Do you have evidence to prove that having evidence proves anything? I thought not.

QED.

[Clinton Huxley]

Nice. That's science, that is.

But science is just another religion, so why should I believe what scientists say? Just because of "evidence?" Pssshh. Belief in the efficacy of evidence is just another faith-based assertion. Do you have evidence to prove that having evidence proves anything? I thought not.

QED.

Go to the back of the class. I will spank you later.

[FBM]

Nice. That's science, that is.

But science is just another religion, so why should I believe what scientists say? Just because of "evidence?" Pssshh. Belief in the efficacy of evidence is just another faith-based assertion. Do you have evidence to prove that having evidence proves anything? I thought not.

QED.

Go to the back of the class. I will spank you later.

But I wanna be spanked NOW.

[Clinton Huxley]

Nice. That's science, that is.

But science is just another religion, so why should I believe what scientists say? Just because of "evidence?" Pssshh. Belief in the efficacy of evidence is just another faith-based assertion. Do you have evidence to prove that having evidence proves anything? I thought not.

QED.

Go to the back of the class. I will spank you later.

But I wanna be spanked NOW.

One of those.....the number 7 cane I think

[Jay G]

Evolution is a LIE put forth by all those Godless Atheists (may they burn in the hell they so richly deserve) just so they go around having sex without feeling guilt which is God's gift to us so we wont enjoy this world too much.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Evolution is a LIE put forth by all those Godless Atheists (may they burn in the hell they so richly deserve) just so they go around having sex without feeling guilt which is God's gift to us so we wont enjoy this world too much.

I blame Satan.

[Dries van Tonder]

Whaaa....fuck off..............I've just seen a velcrorasper run by............fuckit.............where's my brabdy.....