Re: birds and dinosaurs

[Mickey Mortimer <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Dora Smith wrote-

> Only problem; I don't understand the terminology in these posts.    What
> does it mean that the skin was "pebbled" like an elephant's, and that it
> wasn't bumpy like a "typical" dinosaur's?

Well, dinosaurs have reticulate scales, which means they don't overlap.
Rather like a Gila monster.  But elephants lack scales, of course, having a
bumpy wrinkled naked skin instead.  Unfortunately, the reports of
tyrannosaurid skin are contradictory.  Tanke claims his specimen shows small
reticulate scales like hadrosaurs, but Currie indicates the Gorgosaurus
holotype lacks scales.  Interestingly, the basal coelurosaur Santanaraptor
has well preserved naked skin on the few areas it's preserved, as does
Pelecanimimus on its cranial crest and perhaps other areas.

Mickey Mortimer
Undergraduate, Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington
The Theropod Database - http://students.washington.edu/eoraptor/Home.html