Feathered Dinosaur
The realization that dinosaurs are closely related to birds raised the obvious possibility of feathered dinosaurs. Fossils of Archaeopteryx include well-preserved feathers, but it was not until the mid-1990s that clearly non-avialan dinosaur fossils were discovered with preserved feathers. Since then, more than twenty genera of dinosaurs, mostly theropods, have been discovered to have been feathered. Most fossils are from the Yixian formation in China. The fossil feathers of one specimen, Shuvuuia deserti, have tested positive for beta-keratin, the main protein in bird feathers, in immunological tests.
Read more about Feathered Dinosaur: Early Hypotheses, Fossil Evidence, Phylogeny and The Inference of Feathers in Other Dinosaurs
Famous quotes containing the word feathered:
“The strangest ride that ever was sped
Was Ireson’s, out from Marblehead!
Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart,
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart
by the women of Marblehead!”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)