What is Digg?99 Comments
- i4mt3hwin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+91Clever girl.
- bajesus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+84They can still open doors though can't they?
- Dumbledorito, on 10/10/2007, -0/+81Great. Now I'm allergic to velociraptors, too...
- RollFizzlebeef, on 10/10/2007, -1/+74Adam & Eve must've looked so cool riding them.
- mikewhite314, on 10/10/2007, -1/+66made me think of xkcd
- sotopheavy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+49Big Bird, a ferocious dinosaur made famous by the TV show Sesame Street definitely had feathers.
- mysteri0usdrx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+43this is an insult to Raptor Jesus!
- RevJonathan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+35Shhhh! Spielburg will have a reason to do a remake if he catches wind of this!
- variable, on 10/10/2007, -0/+24So does this mean that they tasted like chicken?
- 37prime, on 10/10/2007, -1/+24Actually, Spielberg is going to re-do the special effects in Jurassic Park. The new Velociraptors will be carrying Walkie Talkie.
- razordancer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20How is this news? Look at the carbon date on those fossils.. This happened YEARS ago.
- rockrapdude, on 10/10/2007, -3/+22Pics or it didn't happen
- ElbertF, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Gee..
"These wouldn't have been flight feathers in the Velociraptor, because it's an animal that's much too big to have flown." - foreignwarren, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15OMG! Raptors with...with....TASERS!!!
- Asianwaste, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15That doesn't sound scary... Sounds more like a giant TURKEY!
- Iam9376, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15Apparently 'God' didn't know about them, or he just forgot to mention that to the people writing the bible.. (or any religious material for that matter)
- arsheroica, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15"It's sort of as if you scaled up a chicken and then gave it really nasty teeth and big claws on its feet," he said.
Terrifying. - noumuon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15this is, like, older than the internet...
- DirtySnachez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15http://xkcd.com/87/
- AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -0/+14They're already working on a fourth.
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9638
"We're told that the film is about the government who has trained dinosaurs to carry weapons and use them for battle purposes." - tunapez, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Wild stuff, wonder if pterodactyl had feathers too....
Not too surprised, though, I was terrorized by a rooster when I was 4. Mean bastard was scarier than any park dino. - lahar, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Feather Quill Knobs in the Dinosaur Velociraptor
Alan H. Turner, Peter J. Makovicky, Mark A. Norell
Some nonavian theropod dinosaurs were at least partially covered in feathers or filamentous protofeathers. However, a complete understanding of feather distribution among theropod dinosaurs is limited because feathers are typically preserved only in lagerstätten like that of Solnhofen, Germany or Liaoning, China. Such deposits possess clear taphonomic biases toward small-bodied animals, limiting our knowledge regarding feather presence in larger members of feathered clades. We present direct evidence of feathers in Velociraptor mongoliensis based on the presence of quill knobs on the posterior forearm. This report of secondaries in a larger-bodied, derived, and clearly flightless member of a nonavian theropod clade represented by feathered relatives is a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the evolution of feathers.
Their presence, however, is a direct indicator of feathers of modern aspect (e.g., feathers composed of a rachis and vanes formed by barbs).
The specimen IGM (Geological Institute of Mongolia) 100/981 was collected at the Gilvent Wash locality near Ukhaa Tolgod (Campanian Djadokhta Formation). The specimen is estimated to have been 1.5 m long and to have weighed roughly 15 kg. It possesses several characteristics found in V. mongoliensis, a common dromaeosaurid in the Djadokhta Formation. IGM 100/981 preserves six low papillae on the middle third of the caudal margin of the ulna (Fig. 1). These are regularly spaced about 4 mm apart. Topographically, these papillae correspond to the quill knobs in living birds. Given their spacing in IGM 100/981, we estimated that there is space for eight additional secondary feathers. This suggests that 14 secondaries were present in Velociraptor, which compares well with the 12 or more secondaries in Archaeopteryx (3). About 18 secondaries are suggested for the dromaeosaurid Microraptor (4), whereas its close relative Rahonavis appears to have possessed just 10 (5).
Such variation is expected because extant birds display variable counts even within species (3).
Known coelurosaurs with wing feathers of modern aspect are small basal members of their respective clades. Some have been considered possibly volant (4, 5), and it has been suggested that the large-bodied, derived members of the feathered theropod clades may not have retained feathers or only retained feathers while juveniles (6). This Velociraptor specimen indicates this is not the case for at least one lineage of dromaeosaurids. An examination of the living families of birds shows a significant correlation between the absence of ulnar papillae and the loss and/or reduction in volancy, even though some strong flyers lack papillae (7). This raises the possibility that ulnar papillar reduction or absence in large-bodied derived dromaeosaurids reflects loss of aerodynamic capabilities from the clade's ancestral members. Quill knobs in Velociraptor could reflect retention of feathers from smaller possibly volant ancestors, but such feathers may have had other functions. Although thermoregulatory effects of secondaries on the ulna would be negligible, such feathers could have been used for display (1), in shielding nests for thermal control (8), or for creating negative lift during incline running (9). Whether this feature represents retention of an ancestral function or the cooption for other purposes, the presence of quilled feathers on the posterior of the arms in a medium-sized derived, clearly nonvolant dromaeosaur can now be established. - AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -0/+11Touche. My mistake.
- foreignwarren, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10now THAT'S comedy!
- Influsion, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Jurassic Park is officially obsolete.
- ajgv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9you just made me wish that the plural of "walkie talkie" was walkie talki
- AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -4/+13Gee..
You must of missed the part of the article where it said:
"Experts say the dinosaur, called Velociraptor, had a wing structure just like modern birds." - catxk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8No, that was already a known fact.
- OutThisLife, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Why are the WoW graphics so bad?
- Zalyster, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Yes, but every door afterwards takes 1/2 less time than before.
- diggsIt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Horsefeathers!! The Velociraptor was accurately portrayed in the movie. Spielberg's a genius, he wouldn't make such a blatant mistake.
- LordSkywalker, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8My favorite dinosaur just got demoted.
- Grjemo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7How is that ironic?
- ToadLeg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I wonder how many other dinosaurs had feathers. I want to see a stegosaurus with feathers!
- Rocketman1882, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I wonder if Munroe will make a blag update.
- Trel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6There's a reason we call birds of prey "Raptors" you know. All those bad-ass falcons which can kill a deer...
- OutThisLife, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6IT'S SO CUTE!
- foreignwarren, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6dugg for "Horsefeathers!!" ha!
- Zalyster, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6***** YES
- everymahn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Here's a link to the original image, comparing raptor bones to those of a turkey vulture:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol317/issue5845 ... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5not so tough now little bird.
- poptones, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6It's like raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin..
- bajesus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6He'll just go in and replace all the raptors with walkie-talkies
- STKD, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I can't decide if this makes them less terrifying, or MORE terrifying.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4the T-Rex will be retrofitted with AT-ST legs as well
- Idea, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Here's a pic for those of you with ADD.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd ...
Apparently it's been a well known idea that Velociraptor (as a member of the Dromaeosauridae family) probably had feathers. This scientist actually found the evidence to confirm this theory.
Shockingly the dimensions and characteristics of the dinosaur we know and love from Jurassic Park were over exaggerated for TV.
Anyways for you dinosaur freaks check out the wiki on Velociraptors for some more good info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor - OutThisLife, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4God's a slacker.
- tikilab, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Any relation?
http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/images/y ... - Angostura, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4frickin tasers strapped to their foreheads, I expect.
- AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -4/+8Demoted? If anything, it means that they're more terrifying.
Imagine.. Flying Velociraptor. -
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