I am sending it directly to the most important people in the
dinosaur world ;-)
Wow, I feel really honoured, considering I have no credentials, no hands-on
experience with dinosaurs, have never dug up my own fossils, have never
sculpted any dinosaur models, have never had any of my artwork commissioned,
nor have I written any papers!! Basically I'm just an amateur. My main role
is simply to ask more questions and soak up whatever info I can absorb. : -
)
Anyway, my two-cents worth is that feathers evolved primarily as insulation,
maybe among the ancestors of carnosaurs and coelurosaurs. The young of
carnosaurs would have downy feathers for warmth; these would be shed as the
dinosaur reached maturity. As for coelurosaurs, these would end up retaining
their feathers into adulthood. Eventually, in some feathers evolved for
display, especially on the head, on the arms and on the tip of the tail.
Even later, these feathers became instrumental in flight. So, we have here a
sequence as insulation first, display next, and finally flight.
Of course I may be wrong. This is perhaps one of the most controversial
topics.
P.S Just bought my copy of Prehistoric Times (March Edition). Shipping of
certain American magazines to Singapore is somewhat slow, and the shop I
bought my copy from seems to have only one copy. Pretty interesting, great
artwork, but the interview with Larry Martin left me somewhat disconcerted.
If I were someone with not much prior knowledge of dinosaurs, I may be
misled to believe that BAND is more likely than BAD... Guess Larry Martin &
Alan Feduccia are still grasping on straws.
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