• BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Is it all the dinosaurs? Or just ones from specific eras that likely had feathers? Ill try to find ou5 myself later. But if anybody has a link to something akin to “feathered dinos for dummies” id love to check it out

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      From what i’ve seen it’s basically 50/50 if any one species had a significant amount of feathers, but feathers do seem to have existed in the earliest dinosaur ancestor so it could maybe potentially show up in any species.

      Then you can get more detailed and memorize which kinds of dinosaur had what kind of feather covering, like sauropods seem to at most have some quills and similar decorations, while dromaeosaurs (dakotaraptor, velociraptor, etc) were basically big murder birds with full on wings.

      But of course even within clades there could be significant difference: T.rex seems to have been, uh, covered in straight up skin like a giant plucked chicken… but at least some of its relatives were mostly covered in feathers.

      • BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        Thank you! Now you owe me no explanation of course, and ill verify this information if I need to.

        But may I ask, are you just well read in this department, or some sort of professional/expert?

    • stray@pawb.social
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      2 days ago

      All birds today are actually coelurosauria dinosaurs, a group of theropods (T-rex and raptor-shape dinosaurs) who are thought to have all had feathers for warmth, show, and/or gliding and flight. I know we have evidence that some other theropods had feathers (or at least hairy stuff), but I don’t know whether the rest of them are lacking evidence of feathers or whether we have evidence against them having feathers.

      I would also love such a book, preferably with lots of pictures.

  • Alberat@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    crazy how there’s billion dollar movies that have embarrassingly incorrect dinosaurs in them

    • stray@pawb.social
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      2 days ago

      While the look is based in old misconceptions of dinosaur biology, the Jurassic Park dinos lacking feathers actually works really well for the story. They were never meant to be real dinosaurs. They’re just theme park attractions, so of course they look how the customers expect them to. Just like how most of them aren’t even from the Jurassic period.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        2 days ago

        Yes that was the retcon explanation. The actual explanation is that they wanted to have Velociraptors in the movie and weren’t really bothered about the fact that they aren’t actually that big, there are species of raptor that are that large, but they didn’t want to use their names because they were less well-known. Velociraptor was one of the few dinosaurs people knew. T-Rex didn’t become famous until after Jurassic Park.

        • stray@pawb.social
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          2 days ago

          T-Rex didn’t become famous until after Jurassic Park.

          Really? I thought everyone knew T-rex when I was a kid. The only pick for Land Before Time I thought was weird was Duckie because I’m still not 100% sure what she is despite having looked it up a few times. The rest of the cast are what I’d consider your classic dinosaurs. But it’s hard to know what other people know when you’re an autistic kid.

    • filcuk@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      Movies often align to the popular perception if a thing rather than reality. Otherwise you’re watching a documentary.

  • TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    “Scientists believe that these strange creatures used their spiky arms to spear their prey.”

  • waterore@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    That statement should start with “in the past”. Recent depictions I’ve seen have them fully fleshed and feathered using up to date methods to create as accurate as possible models.

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      yeah, we have some absolutely amazing art these days. i particularly love this type of depiction of dromaeosaurs: Just MASSIVE birds with teeth instead of beaks and huge claws, they feel very… cromulent…

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      Maybe they don’t fit under the term of “paleoartists” (they are artists of Paleolithic creatures) but the most popular modern depictions of dinosaurs are presumably the Jurrasic World movies, and I think they are almost universally lacking plumage. I’ve only seen the first, but the images I’ve seen I don’t have any feathered dinos. So, no. This is still an ongoing issue.

    • Klear@quokk.au
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      3 days ago

      We even have ways to figure out their colouring in some cases now! Like this sinosauropteryx:

      image

        • Klear@quokk.au
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          3 days ago

          They found preserved melanosomes. It was previously thought these were the remains of bacteria.

          You can find details here, but I highly recommend reading Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World by Michael J. Benton, who was one of the ones doing the research. The book is very fun to read (he’s got that typical dry british humour), does a great job of describing the history and current status of paleontology (which is apparently exploding in new discoveries right now) and it has absolutely lovely illustrations, including the one I linked above. And also this anurognathus that is the cutest thing ever:

          • khannie@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            That’s cool. We’re going to look back at present views of dinosaurs with laughter it sounds like. Thanks for the answer. I’ll check out the book.

            • FatVegan@leminal.space
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              3 days ago

              I just ordered it. I had a girlfriend a few years ago and she was cleaning out some stuff. She found her old dinosaur stuff and asked me if i wanted it for my nephew. I asked her how outdated the things were. She looked at me pretty shocked and said: they are millions of years old, nothing has changed. I found that pretty funny