Re: Caution- "down-like" feathers

[TomHopp@aol.com]

Dan Bensen wrote:

<< I would like to interject here with the predictable stupid-artist 
question: what would dino-fuzz look like on a living dromaeosaur, troodon, 
etc.?>>

Better to avoid the term "dino-fuzz" as well as "down."
   If you take modern feathers as our only visible examples, you have a 
pretty wide array of possible feather textures, colors, etc. In fact, that 
great variability of form is a major point emphasized by Prum, and I agree. 
If, someday, we have a thousand different feathered dinosaur fossils, there 
will probably be a thousand different types and textures of feathers among 
them. The variety of different feather shapes, sizes and textures on a single 
bird amazes me. Not to mention the scales on the toes, and the tubercles on 
the bottoms of the feet--very much like those on the new dromaeosaur.
   Snowy owls, I believe, have "fuzz" on their toes where other birds have 
scales.
   By the way, I've been corrected that no troodontids with feather 
impressions have been described. I must be clairvoyant.

Thomas P. Hopp
Author of DINOSAUR WARS, a science fiction novel published by iUniverse
Now Humans are the Endangered Species!  http://members.aol.com/dinosaurwars