Mini T. Rex Could Be Missing Link
A private owner has donated a fossil that could change the way we think about Tyrannosaurus and their development.
Some scientists believed the T.Rex evolved to its enormous size, then its arms shrank, when they were no longer needed. The new discovery, though, shows that the tiny-armed killing machine may have evolved from a much smaller killing-machine-with-tiny-arms. This totally rearranges the previous T.Rex evolution paradigm.
The 125 million-year-old fossil dinosaur, unearthed in China and dubbed Raptorex kriegsteini, is “as close to the proverbial missing link on a lineage as we might ever get for tyrannosaurs,” Sereno said.
(As a special bonus, check out the religious debate in the comments.)
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The Color of Dinosaurs
Scientists thought they’d never know what colors the dinosaurs were, since fossils are rock-colored and even recently-discovered mummified scraps of the animals are faded. Jakob Vinther, a graduate student at Yale, was researching fossil feathers when he discovered that melanin granules survived in their original shapes and patterns, which can be compared with existing feathers to determine their original color.
Perhaps the most surprising and most exciting application of this research is that it may allow us to predict the colors of many dinosaurs.
“These include many of our most well loved dinosaurs,” says Prum. “Like velociraptor, the dinosaur that chased the kids around the kitchen in Jurassic Park, was actually fully plumaged.”
While these dinosaur feathers were not used for flight until the appearance of the transitional species Archaeopteryx, the first known bird, they were probably useful for warmth. Prum says we could even learn more about the color of one of the most famous dinosaurs of all, Tyrannosaurus rex.
“In the classic mural The Age of Reptiles in the Yale Peabody museum, they depicted T-rex, which is one of the iconic, huge, bipedal, meat-eating dinosaurs,” he says. “Recent fossil discoveries have shown that the closest relative of these huge tyrannosaurids actually had tiny skin appendages or fossil feathers—’dino-fuzz.’
Link (with video) -via Metafilter
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Tiny Art Director
Bill Zeman’s daughter is the Tiny Art Director. She tells him what to draw and then tells him just exactly how much she hates it. Bill has been recording her comments and posting them with his art since she was two and a half.
Here’s a sample:
The Brief: Purple Gatorade [Rosie's Fish]
The Critique: Dad, that doesn’t look like Purple Gatorade. Only mine looks like Purple Gatorade. You’re going to scan it, and then when you’re done with it, it’s going to be scrappled up and thrown in the garbage. And then mine will be our final picture.
Job Status: Rejected
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Itty Bitty Dinosaur Puzzle
Kelly Ferrell uses a laser to cut these adorable mammoths, there are also t-rexes, butterflies and more. They seem quite hard to put together once you get them, but the result is quite worth it and is certain to attract attention from anyone who sees them.
Link Via Boing Boing
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