Description

Overview:

Last month, paleontologists from Canada, the U.S., and Japan announced an exciting discovery: feathered dinosaur fossils in North America. When Ornithomimus edmontonicus was first studied in the 1930s, its ostrich-like skeleton earned it a name that translates to "bird mimic." Now new fossils and a re-evaluation of old ones have revealed that its body covering also fits the moniker. A newly unearthed, year-old juvenile specimen is covered in downy, hair-like feathers, and re-examination of an adult specimen turned up traces of standard feathers with a central shaft. While most popular reporting has focused on the idea that these shafted feathers may have been used to attract mates, the real news in this research lies elsewhere

Subject:

Biology

Level:

High School, Community College / Lower Division, College / Upper Division

Material Type:

Diagram/Illustration, Reading

Provider:

University of California Museum of Paleontology

Provider Set:

Understanding Evolution

Date Added:

11/01/2012