|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 03/12/2011 : 15:52:46
|
For some reason, we almost always equate dinosaurs with a balmy, temperate climate; a sort of Reptilian Riviera. Such is not necessarily the case. There is now a school of thought that says it was bitter cold, winter weather that encouraged some theropod dinosaurs to evolve feathers.
Dinosaurs During Temperate Climate With Harsh Winters
ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2011) —
Dinosaurs did not always enjoy mild climates. New findings show that during part of the Early Cretaceous, north-east China had a temperate climate with harsh winters. They explain the abundance of feathered dinosaurs in fossil deposits of that period.
The discovery was made by an international collaboration coordinated by Romain Amiot of the Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon: terre, planètes et environnement (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/Université Lyon 1).
Their work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It has long been thought that the climate of the Mesozoic, the age of the dinosaurs, was generally warm across the planet. However, a recent study challenges this theory. The work focuses on a region of north-east China where the Jehol fauna developed during part of the Early Cretaceous (between 125 and 110 million years ago). The fossils found in this deposit include many dinosaurs covered with filamentous structures similar to bird feathers (such structures can take on various forms, ranging from filaments, down and 'protofeathers' to true feathers). But is this feature due simply to excellent conditions of preservation or to the adaptation of such species to environmental conditions? Since these dinosaurs were unable to fly, several scientists have suggested that their feathers acted as thermal insulation.
|
This also puts forth a pretty good argument for endothermic, body temperature regulation, which would allow the animal to be an active nuisance year 'round.
Interesting, and I've no doubt that the Bible-blinded at the sites of the usual suspects will have some strange and amusing comments on it as soon as they can get their apologetics engines fired up and fine tuned.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
|
Cold weather dinos.....
