Dino-Birds: 2 (Avimimus) ~ Fossils found during the last 20 years show what some dinosaurs may have been covered with feathers or fur. Sinosauropteryx was a small, 1 m long meat-eater that lived 135 million years ago in China. Fossils of Sinosauropteryx show that parts of its body were covered not with the usual reptile scales, but with feathers.
The overall snape of Sinosauropteryx shows that, despite being feathered, it could not fly. The feathers of Sinosauropteryx may have been for cammouflage, for visual display, or to keep it warm. Suggesting it was warm blooded.
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| Avimimus may have evolved feathers for warmth of for camouflage |
Avimimus was a small, light dinosaur, its fossils come from China and Mongolia, and date from 85-82 million years ago.
The 1.5 m long Avimimus had amouth shaped like a bird's beak for pecking at food. The fossil arm bones of Avimimus have small ridges of the same size and snape as the ridges on bird's wing bones, where feathers attach.
In modern science, any animal with feathers is a bird, so some experts say that feathered dinosaurs or even reptiles, but birds.
Some experts say that birds are not really a separate group of animals, but a subgroup of dinosaurs that lives on today, and they should be regarded as feathered dinosaurs.
See also about Growth and Age Dinosaurs
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