Can I ask by what process feathers come to leave quill knobs in bone? I
wouldn't expect such a thing, because feathers are part of the integument,
and replaced scales. Skin does not leave quill knobs in bone, and neither
do scales, do they?
Do only certain kind of feathers leave quill knobs in bone? Because birds
have an awful lot of feathers to leave quill knobs, and what about parts of
the bird that have no bone underneath the feathers?
Also, most birds molt their feathers on an annual basis; I'm trying to
imagine the poor bird losing feathers from sockets in the bone and then
growing new ones. Now, I know that pin feathers are sensitive, but...
And do feathers only leave quill knobs on certain bones? What about rib and
spine bones; should these have quill knobs if the animal was completely
covered in feathers?
Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX
tiggernut24@yahoo.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Guy Leahy" <xrciseguy@sbcglobal.net>
To: <saichania@gmail.com>
Cc: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 8:01 PM
Subject: Re: Evidence For a Feathered Velociraptor...
As the authors note, the presence of quill knobs in
Velociraptor is consistent with the idea, championed
by Gregory Paul and others, that dromaeosaurs were
secondarily flightless, as flightless birds are less
likely to possess quill knobs.