The last Dinosaurs
Turkey leg, physical reminder of a time before "The Age of Mammals"
National Geographic video "From Dinosaurs to turkeys" A proud tom!
Hear-me-Roar
Same Photo:
Take away the Snood, add teeth and it is self evident that something survived the great asteroid strike
Feathered
Dinosaurs! Barely a
week slips past without the announcement of the discovery of yet another dinosaur
fossil covered in feathers. The fossils range from sparrow-sized full flyers
(with teeth & wing claws) to giant sloth sized behemoths that could never
fly yet sported large feathered wings.
Baby bird found in Amber 99-million-year-old toothed fledgling
Even a twenty foot Tyrannosaur covered in feathers!
With each amazing discovery the link between birds and dinosaurs grows stronger as does the theory that birds are the last surviving members of the Theropod dinosaur family and are the only dinosaurs to survive the great die off known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction.
National Geographic: Not quite birds
National Geographic: Feathered dinosaur tail found in amber
Of special note is that the bird order Galliformes (modern Turkeys, chickens, quail and pheasants) and other families such as ducks and Ratites are some of the most ancient and unchanged of all birds.
Galliforme-type fossils have been dated to show these bird co-existed with dinosaurs, well because they were and are dinosaurs.
National Geographic: the burst of bird evolution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Infographic Bird tree of life!
Or read the whole excellent article: Evolutionary relationship birds
Video linking bird and dinosaur postures
Our Thanksgiving feast of stuffed turkey? A celebration of Tyrannosaur Rex’s distant cousin!
Our favorite Television dinosaur the Tyrannosaur Rex is a large member the Theropod dinosaurs, as well as the movie evil villains the Velociraptor. Per the actual fossils, Hollywood got it wrong and the Velociraptors were actually covered in feathers. “Think giant man-eating Blue Jays.”
And........
And the smaller Raptors:
Microraptor A flying feathered dinosaur found with bird bones (last meal)
Video clip from the Smithsonian web site: How Hollywood got it wrong
Hollywood? Me?
Rotisserie chicken, Pheasant under glass, roast duck and the turkey sandwich I had for lunch -a celebration of an incredible success and survival story when from a time when three quarters of all life on the planet perished during the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction. The books say we are in the age of Mammals however..
From BCC: A winged Dragon!
When you consider the staggering amount of chickens and turkeys being raised for human consumption, one could say we are in the Second age of the Dinosaurs!
Actually my pack of Theropod dinosaur turkeys are calling at the back door for a snack
Feathered dinosaurs? Apparently feathers were used for many things: warmth for the little ones (down) and mating displays (like the modern turkey). I once read a theory that wing feathers were used by jumping dinosaurs to catch dragonflies or whatever insects flew in that lost world. Who knows?
Feathers for flight came later as some of the Theropods took to life in the trees to escape ground predators. Apparently life in the trees was good and succeeding generations began to shrink to take further advantage of arboreal ecosystems. Per the fossil record the result was an explosion in new adaptions and species, ever more like our modern birds. And some odd ball twists along the way.
What color were the feathers of these Dinosaurs? National Geographic study (check it out!)
Little Galliformes (Quail) good example of the first feathers: for warmth and Camouflage.
How dinosaurs shrank to become birds Scientific American
Latest Study Anseriformes and Galliformes (above) originated in the late Cretaceous
Butterball, my sometimes cranky dino-bird
The HOATZIN A Modern bird that still has claws on wings and uses the claws to climb trees until the flight feathers have developed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87_shPJxdns
My jaw dropped.....
If you made it this far.........Check out Luis Rey, the BEST dinosaur artist in the world. (my opinion only) https://luisvrey.wordpress.com/
This is just one of his paintings of a feathered T-Rex
https://luisvrey.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/tyrannosaurus-rex-in-mexico/
Nothing dinosaur to see here......well...
Newly discovered amber with tick and dinosaur feathers.
Tooth loss in birds occurred about 116 million years ago
Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birds
Source of chart: Swarthmore College. "Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140925130506.htm>
Return Home from the Feathered Dinosaur page
.........The last dinosaurs
Do you need the perfect gift?
For pet lovers around the globe, "It's a Matter of Luck" is a collection of heart warming stories of horse rescues from the slaughterhouse.
Available on Amazon:
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Warning: This book may cause your eyes to water -in a good way. (speaking from experience after reading it)
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Author Bruce Ryba at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B & Artemis 1. "We are going to the Moon!"
Author's discussion (that's me) on You Tube of a book review on Amazon
My Facebook page Pet Turkeys You can always check in and say hello!
For the video versions of information, please check out my YouTube Channel (Turkeys, KSC, Flintknapping, dive stories etc.)
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Fiction & language warning.
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Desperate times call for bold action.
In a desperate move to retain Florida and protect the treasure-laden galleons on their dangerous return journey to Europe, the King of Spain issues a royal decree offering refuge to all English slaves who escape Florida and pick up a musket to defend the coquina walls of Saint Augustine.
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