Re: feathers as parasite protection?

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Ralph,
    I wasn't thinking about the first feathers being so soft and munchable 
as flight or insulatory feathers.  And I also was thinking that they 
probably covered a small part of the body that might be difficult to access 
for the reptile to scratch off parasites.  Could not the first feathers have 
been solid sheets of keratin that covered vulnerable areas?
                     ------Ken
*********************************************************
> From: "Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>
> Reply-To: kinman@hotmail.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: feathers as parasite protection?
> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 05:00:51 GMT
>
> Dear All,
>      Has it ever been discussed on this list the possibility that feathers
> may have originally evolved as elongate "detachable" and/or "shakeoutable"
> scales to help protect against skin parasites?  And that insulation and 
> flight came later as a fortuitous result?
>                         -----Ken Kinman
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