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Microraptor
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by Cro on February 18, 2009
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Nova is airing a show this month about Microraptor, which is four winged "feathered" dinosaur.
The show uses models in a wind tunnel to try to determine if this animal was able to glide or fly.
The research relates to the evolution of reptiles and birds in a very interesting way, and might even suggest that there were many more "feathered" dinosaurs.
The show is called "The Four-Winged Dinosaur" and you can find it on PBS, or watch it online at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/microraptor/program.html
This show is well worth watching, and is a much better use for a TV than American Idol, or even .357 practice, LOL.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Microraptor
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by FSB on February 18, 2009
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Well, wish I'd read this BEFORE I used my TV for .357 practice! Not much good for anything else now... was some few seconds of fun, though!
The Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsvile had a really nice exhibit about the feathered dinosaurs of China... not sure if it's still there or not. They had that really famous little critter that was on the cover of National Geographic (can't recall its name right now), but the museum had the actual fossil, not a cast, which was pretty darn cool.
The idea of feathered dinosaurs has taken some getting used to, but I guess there's no getting around it. It is pretty fun to think of geese, etc. as being little theropods, though, and sometimes they really act liike it!
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RE: Microraptor
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by Crotalusssp on February 18, 2009
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There has also recently been a show on NatGeo called "Morphed" and the first topic they covered was the evolution of dinosaurs and they followed it up to a Turkey. Interesting show. The feathered dinosaur fossil you are most likely referring to is Archaeopteryx.
Charles
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RE: Microraptor
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by Cro on February 18, 2009
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Charles, I am not talking about Archaeopteryx, which was likely the most primative and first "bird."
I am talking about a new group of animals in the Genus: Microraptor, of the Species: zhaoianus.
If you watch the PBS show, you will see that these are very different animals.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Microraptor
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by Crotalusssp on February 18, 2009
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John, I was actually talking about the "famous" cover animal on the National Geographic cover that Fred was referring to. I will definitely look out for the Nova show. I also watched a interesting Nova show recently about the Evolution vs. Intelligent Design court cases of 2005. John are you going to make it to the Columbia show next month?
Charles
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RE: Microraptor
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by Chance on February 19, 2009
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Every time I walk out to my emu pen, it seems beyond obvious to me that these are just modified dinosaurs. Birds are even ectothermic when hatched and only gain endothermy as they grow. Quite possibly many dinos did too?
I believe emus were even used at an excavation site in UT or MT where there were lots of fossilized foot prints and paleontologists were trying to understand the odd patterns. They used emus walking around in muddy conditions to try to see why certain tracks were laid down as they were. One look at an emu's foot makes it obvious why they were a good choice - that, and they the easiest ratite to manage that is tri-dactyl: rheas are too skittish and cassowaries are both too insane and they have a giant inner toe claw that would distort the prints. Ostriches, of course, have only two toes.
It really is interesting to think that the chickens out in the yard or the budgie in its little cage are likely the direct descendants of such notable beasts.
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RE: Microraptor
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by Chance on February 19, 2009
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Every time I walk out to my emu pen, it seems beyond obvious to me that these are just modified dinosaurs. Birds are even ectothermic when hatched and only gain endothermy as they grow. Quite possibly many dinos did too?
I believe emus were even used at an excavation site in UT or MT where there were lots of fossilized foot prints and paleontologists were trying to understand the odd patterns. They used emus walking around in muddy conditions to try to see why certain tracks were laid down as they were. One look at an emu's foot makes it obvious why they were a good choice - that, and they the easiest ratite to manage that is tri-dactyl: rheas are too skittish and cassowaries are both too insane and they have a giant inner toe claw that would distort the prints. Ostriches, of course, have only two toes.
It really is interesting to think that the chickens out in the yard or the budgie in its little cage are likely the direct descendants of such notable beasts.
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RE: Microraptor
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by Chance on February 19, 2009
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Oops, my apologies for the double post. It was doing that weird thing where it jumped to a new thread when I hit post.
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RE: Microraptor
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by FSB on February 19, 2009
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Actually Charles it wasn't Archaeopteryx but a recently discovered dromaeosaur specimen (NGMC 91) believed to be Sinornithosaurus. The Va Museum of Natural History had the actuial fossil on loan from China in a 2007 exhibit called "Chinasaurs" (like everything else, dinosaurs were made in China too).
What was unfathomable to me was that the text accompanying the exhibit speculated that the animal's sharp teeth indicated a diet of possible smaller reptiles and amphibians, etc., but said nothing at all about fish. However, as I examined the fossil in the display, there were two fossil impressions of small fish in the same matrix, one right beside the right foot, which were not at all mentioned anywhere in the accompanying literature. This would seem to indicate that the animal at least lived near water, and was probably fossilized in mud along a shoreline, and that fish may have been an important part of its diet, since the teeth were indeed very sharp and needle-like.
By the way, I love emus, and they definitely could pass for latter-day dromaeosaurs.
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