RE: Sinosauropteryx feathers?

["Daniel Bensen" <dbensen@bowdoin.edu>]

>> It's been suggested that body contour feathers are purely
aerodynamic, but a book I have says the are better for insulation and
impact protection than fibrous structures. Is this true (or relevant)?<<

[I'll let other people talk about the fossils---which are the things
that really matter]

I really wonder about the insulation thing, since penguins seem to do
fine without contour feathers---but then again maybe their blubber plays
a role here.

In any case, though.  Insulation need not be an issue, since
Sinosauropteryx did not live a particularly cold environment.  

In the end, it seems that there isn't a vast amount of concrete data
either way in this argument---but the data that _is_ there, whether your
criteria are based upon function, phylogeny, or fossils, all seems to
point toward fuzz and not contour feathers on Sinosauropteryx.

Dan