Bird’s eye view
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 1, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 The Associated Press A 130 million-year-old Dromaeosaur
covered with downy fluff and primitive feathers was unveiled April
25.
By Dharshani Dharmawardena and Hemesh
Patel
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s a bird, it’s a plane ““ no, it’s a
feathered dinosaur! Well, almost.
For the past 100 years, the theory that birds evolved from
dinosaurs has stirred great debate.
Flaming the fire, farmers in China’s Liaoning Province
found a fossilized dinosaur last year covered in what appeared to
be feathers.
These farmers found the remains of Dromaeosaur, a 130
million-year-old fossil related to the ferocious Velociraptors
featured in “Jurassic Park.”
“The most exciting thing is that this is a really
beautiful and impressive find with skin appendages which may be
feathers,” said Blaire Van Valkenburgh, professor in the
department of organismic biology, ecology and evolution.
The recent find has convincing feather-like features, leading
some researchers to call them birds.
But the technical term is non-bird dinosaurs, backing up the
notion that dinosaurs evolved from birds.
Most paleontologists support the idea that birds developed their
avian-like characteristics, such as beaks and a lack of teeth, in
steps.
“The question is: did these features evolve all at once or
earlier on?” said Bruce Runnegar, professor of paleontology.
“Feathers are one of the features that occurred early
on.”
According to researchers, feather-clad animals first made their
debut during the late Cretaceous period between 145 and 65 million
years ago.
But this is not the first time scientists unearthed the remains
of this particular creature in the area.
In the last decade, more than a 1,000 specimens were found,
according to British Broadcasting Corporation reports.
“China’s a real hotbed for fossils right now, mostly
because it hasn’t really been explored,” said Peter
Adam, a second-year graduate student in the OBEE department, who is
conducting research in paleobiology.
Researchers have a variety of theories as to why feathers
evolved on reptiles, he added.
Because many of the skeletons appear to have supported larger
animals incapable of flying, some paleontologists theorize the down
may have functioned for other purposes.
“The feathers could have been used for warmth or
insulation,” Runnegar said. “They may have kept (the
animals) cool and warm depending on its individual
requirements.”
He said another theory supports the idea that the creatures may
have used the feathers for display.
Today, for example, the colorful array of down on some birds
serve to attract their mates.
“Birds use feathers effectively to identify between
species and between males and females,” Runnegar said.
“We have known for more than a 100 years that the more
primitive birds had feathers.”
But scientists are not certain what function the feather-like
structures served for the specimens unearthed in China.
“There’s strong evidence that these body coverings
were originally insulation for warm-blooded dinosaurs and were only
co-opted for flight,” said Mark Norell, chairman of the
division of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York.
As these creatures with feathers began to proliferate in the
late Cretaceous period, their success could have dealt a blow to
dominant flying dinosaurs, like pterodactyls.
“It’s interesting ““ as birds became more
prominent, the pterodactyls became extinct,” Adam said.
“As soon as something better came along, the pterodactyls
disappeared, so birds could have knocked out dinosaurs.”
He said, although scientists argue whether or not pterodactyls
flew, these findings suggest that birds adapted better to flying
than the reptiles and won out in the battle to secure food.
Some scientists oppose the theory that birds evolved from
dinosaurs altogether.
“The alternative theory is that crocodiles gave rise to
birds,” Van Valkenburgh said. “They date back 250
million years ago to the Triassic period.”
The findings in Liaoning Province have triggered debate between
paleontologists, some of whom argue modern day birds originated
from older dinosaurs.
In the past, scientists have discovered creatures in Germany 26
million years older than the fossils found in China.
The fossil, named Archaeopteryx, clearly had feathers, but
unlike birds, had a bony tail, van Valkenburgh said.
“Archaeopteryx, when it was first discovered, was thought
of as a dinosaur,” Adam said. “This is an example of an
intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds.”
Because of this previous finding, some paleontologists refute
the possibility that the specimens from China were ancestors to
modern birds.
Other scientists don’t agree that either type of dinosaur
directly evolved into modern-day birds.
“I am not convinced by either side,” Van Valkenburgh
said. “There is a clear relationship between dinosaurs and
birds ““ it’s unclear when the branching
occurred.”
Reports of the findings were published in last month’s
issue of Nature.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.
