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By Mookie Harris: Lead Interpreter, Dinosphere
So they really had feathers?
Since 1983, fossils of dinosaur feathers and feather impressions have been turning up, mostly in China. Over the past three decades, the idea of feathered dinosaurs has slowly crept out from academic research papers to mainstream articles and documentaries. Jurassic World will probably be the last big dinosaur movie made with representations of un-feathered dinosaurs.
Okay, but why?
Today, feathers are found exclusively on birds. Even though we immediately associate bird feathers with flight, birds use feathers in over 20 ways (flight, lining nests, sledding, mating displays, etc.). And even though there are over 10,000 species on Earth today, around 60 of them can’t fly. So, what use for feathers do all of these birds have in common? The answer is body temperature regulation. From penguins to owls, to blue jays, to roadrunners, birds use feathers to keep them warm or cool as their environment demands. While most people have the notion that dinosaurs lived in jungles, plant fossils show us that most dinosaurs found in what is now North America lived in wooded areas, similar to what we might find today in Georgia, northern Florida, or the Carolinas. Feathers would have insulated them as temperatures warmed or cooled.
What colors were these feathers?
When we look at modern bird feathers, we see a wide array of colors. As humans, we perceive those colors when visible light hits microscopic surfaces. These surfaces come in many shapes, and each shape reflects a different color to our eyes. Additionally, many bird feathers contain chemical pigments, which produce even more colors. For instance, a green parrot has tiny structures in its feathers that reflect the color blue, but their feathers also contain yellow pigment. All of this combines to create what we perceive as a vibrant green. As beautiful and multicolored as a peacock’s feathers are, their color comes mostly from chemical pigment. Under a microscope, their feathers appear as a muddy brown. Chemical pigments like these break down fairly quickly, and we do not find them easily in fossils.
What have we found?
One of the most exciting developments in this area of paleontology just happened last month. A Chinese paleontologist revealed a piece of amber from Myanmar which contains an entire baby dinosaur tail. The tail is covered with thin hairy feathers. The feathers on the top of the tail appear to have a chestnut brown color. The feathers on the bottom are white. That coloration is reminiscent of many birds today like hawks, for instance.
Will we ever know for sure?
One of the coolest things about dinosaurs is that there is always more to know. There will always be mystery. All we can do is keep our eyes open to the fossil clues which are constantly being unearthed. The next time you are in Dinosphere, keep all of this in mind and do a little "birdwatching." Observe the fossils, use your knowledge of modern birds, formulate an idea about how they might have looked, and share it with us. Let’s science!
Looking for more Never Stop Asking "Why?" questions? Catch up on all of the past "Why's" on the blog!
