The first ever example of a plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales has been discovered in Russia. Previously only flesh-eating dinosaurs were known to have had feathers so this new find indicates that all dinosaurs could have been feathered.
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Abstract: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10336-014-1098-9
By re-examining a fossil of Scansoriopteryx (which means "climbing wing"), a sparrow-size creature from the Jurassic era, researchers believe that the commonly held belief that birds evolved from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs that gained the ability to fly is false. The birdlike fossil is actually not a dinosaur, as previously thought, but much rather the remains of a tiny tree-climbing animal that could glide.
Through their investigations, the researchers found a combination of plesiomorphic or ancestral non-dinosaurian traits along with highly derived features. It has numerous unambiguous birdlike features such as elongated forelimbs, wing and hind limb feathers, wing membranes in front of its elbow, half-moon shaped wrist-like bones, bird-like perching feet, a tail with short anterior vertebrae, and claws that make tree climbing possible. The researchers specifically note the primitive elongated feathers on the forelimbs and hind limbs. This suggests that Scansoriopteryx is a basal or ancestral form of early birds that had mastered the basic aerodynamic manoeuvres of parachuting or gliding from trees.
Their findings validate predictions first made in the early 1900's that the ancestors of birds were small, tree-dwelling archosaurs which enhanced their incipient ability to fly with feathers that enabled them to at least glide. This "trees down" view is in contrast with the "ground up" view embraced by many palaeontologists in recent decades that birds derived from terrestrial theropod dinosaurs.
The BBC reports on the largest ever four-winged dinosaur (abstract) which has recently been discovered in China.
Changyuraptor yangi was a gliding predator which lived in the Cretaceous period in what is now Liaoning, China.
Its remarkable tail feathers — measuring up to 30cm — are the longest in any non-avian dinosaur.
Measuring 132cm from its snout to the tip of its tail feathers, it is the largest four-winged dinosaur ever discovered — longer than an eagle or an albatross today.
While it is believed that these four-winged dinosaurs were a side-branch and did not evolve into birds as we currently know them, it still offers valuable insight into the origin of flight and evolution of birds.
Adjacent track ways of tyrannosaurus footprints have been discovered (full text) that suggest that tyrannosaurids hunted in packs. The fossilised footprints show clear evidence that the animals travelled together, with all three tracks going in the same direction around the same time, suggesting that these dinosaurs may have been social, and not solitary, animals.
The skeletal record of tyrannosaurids is well-documented, whereas their footprint record is surprisingly sparse. There are only a few isolated footprints attributed to tyrannosaurids and, hitherto, no reported trackways. We report the world's first trackways attributable to tyrannosaurids, and describe a new ichnotaxon attributable to tyrannosaurids. These trackways are from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian Maastrichtian) of northeastern British Columbia, Canada. One trackway consists of three tridactyl footprints, and two adjacent trackways consist of two footprints each. All three trackways show animals bearing southeast within an 8.5 meter-wide corridor. Similarities in depth and preservation of the tyrannosaurid tracks indicate that these three trackways were made by track-makers walking concurrently in the same direction. These trackways add significantly to previous osteology-based hypotheses of locomotion and behavior in Tyrannosauridae by providing ichnologic support for gregariousness in tyrannosaurids, and the first record of the walking gait of tyrannosaurids.
Following up on our story "Fossilised Footprints Suggest Tyrannosaurus Hunted in Packs", we have this report on the natural result of that hunting and feeding.
Squeeze out a bid for colossal coprolite at this weekend's auction
Auction house I.M. Chait has listed what it describes as an "Enormous and rare coprolite" said to measure 40 inches 101.6cm from end to end. The object is believed to have been the result of a meal consumed during the Miocene-Oligocene epoch, some 23 million years ago.
Here's the auctioneer's blurb about the miocene motion:"This truly spectacular specimen is possibly the longest example of coprolite ever to be offered at auction. It boasts a wonderfully even, pale brown-yellow coloring and terrifically detailed texture to the heavily botryoidal surface across the whole of its immense length. The passer of this remarkable object is unknown, but it is nonetheless a highly evocative specimen of unprecedented size, presented in four sections, each with a heavy black marble custom base, an eye-watering 40 inches in length overall."
The prehistoric poo is expected to fetch between $US8,000 and $10,000 when it goes under the hammer. If that's more than you're willing to pay for a no-longer-steaming pile of fossil faeces, the July 26th auction also features a collection of 5 coprolites expected to sell for just $4,000 to $6,000. There's also a single large specimen from the Jurassic expected to sell for a mere $500 and $700.
OK, guys. Here's your chance to let loose with your most prodigious poop puns.
[UPDATE: fixed typo: gave change a chance.]
(Score: 0, Redundant) by WizardFusion on Monday July 28 2014, @12:51PM
Everyone knows the world is flat and only 5000 years old
/sarcasm
(Score: 2) by present_arms on Monday July 28 2014, @01:51PM
I remember having a chat with a person once. She believed that the earth is only 6000 years old, when I questioned her about how there are fossil and other scientific evidence she told me that it was placed there by God to confuse us mere mortals
True story
http://trinity.mypclinuxos.com/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 28 2014, @01:52PM
Anti-Russian Warmongering [slashdot.org] at Slashdot.
Good thing Soylent News exists so we can have discussions with sanity, discussions that are not steered by crazed Jewish warmongers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 28 2014, @09:52PM
Oh, look, one of those Putins bitches off topicing.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday July 28 2014, @02:58PM
i think the citation you want is "Ken Ham reckons..."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday July 28 2014, @05:31PM
Dinosaurs had feathers because scales are rough and would chafe Jesus.
If there's one thing we don't need to see in the paintings of the son of God, it's bright red inner thighs and crotch.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday July 28 2014, @01:52PM
"dinosaurs could have been..."
Could have been purple were-stuffed-animals who sing "I love you, you love me..." to little kids.
There are several aspects of wikipedia culture worthy of contempt, but one innovation is tagging as "weasel words" any... weasel words.
SN should auto tag anything with "could have" as weasel-ish. Its right up there with titles that ask a question.
Those are our generations annoying habits, similar to how my parents generation thought it was hilariously innovative to tag a suffix of "-gate" on every political scandal for decades which has thankfully died out, or slightly more recently we have the people who can't stand silence and fill their speech with the word "like" as a filler.
An interesting high tech startup opportunity would be a low latency augmented reality filter system that eats moronity. Its an interesting technical challenge. On some levels, its so simple, a regex that eats any formatted text title ending in a question mark is simple. Now do that with spoken audio, good luck.
(Score: 2) by pe1rxq on Monday July 28 2014, @02:14PM
I would suggest you buy some earplugs. The amount of non-moron comming through such a filter will be so little you won't notice the difference.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Monday July 28 2014, @02:48PM
Unless you're actually discussing weasels, then it's OK to use those words.
Also - they find one damn fossil, and suddenly they think that ALL dinosaurs had feathers? What kind of stupid shit is this?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sir Garlon on Monday July 28 2014, @03:30PM
The reality of science conflicts with the ideal of science.
In the ideal of science, proper methodology and rigorous thinking separate correct hypotheses from incorrect ones. Long and painstaking work will eventually reveal the truth. For the ideal to become the reality, scientists would have to be rewarded based on their thoroughness and caution and the best scientists might spend most of their time confirming the findings of others. This is not how it works.
In the reality of science, hypotheses compete in a popularity contest. Pettiness and personality conflicts come to the foreground.
It is difficult to tell from the bad reporting whether the statement "all dinosaurs had feathers" is a conclusion that is really justified by the evidence, or posturing by a guy who has just changed the balance of power between two warring camps within the field and is trying to gain favor with the new camp whose cause he just boosted.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 28 2014, @03:44PM
I guess the whole "Lets comment without reading the article" idiocy has rolled-over from Slashdot to the Soylent crowd. I guess it's not a surprise, it is the same demographic after all.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday July 28 2014, @07:19PM
So, they 'could' have had wings, but could they fly?
/Me remembering Les Nessman reporting on WKRP's thanksgiving publicity stunt: throwing live turkeys out of a helicopter.
'Oh, the humanity!' ("I swear to God, i thought turkeys could fly!")
Can you imagine a T-Rex being thrown out of a helicopter, feathers and all? 'Oh, the humanity... oh, the MESS!'
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---