What some of us have suspected all along...

[Abyssinian1]

Heh... I ran into this story while our systems at work are down (and our web portal is conveniently up, making my utter laziness today official). After this little bit of news, Spielberg might consider going in and, ala George Lucas and the additions of CGI scenes to the original Star Wars trilogy, edit both 'Jurassic Park' movies (and the dinosaurs within) to accomodate these findings:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070920/...athered_raptor

Thoughts from the board? I'm going to keep a closer eye on Corina, lest she decide to go carnivore on me.

Cheri

[grymlocke]

I forwarded the article to my local bird club newsletter editor.

[Valo's Moirana]

hmmm.... that could explain a lot of valo's behavior LOL

[Abyssinian1]

Well... I'll admit that there are raptor-like features that both the Velociraptor and macaw have in common. A psittacine's two toes to the front and two toes to the rear gripping feet of a parrot are easily reimagined as talons meant for snatching and grabbing prey, such as a mouse, or an out of shape genetic researcher running through a jungle. You should see Corina savage an inshell almond. Seriously though, I'm wondering how many museum displays will have to be rearranged and reconfigured now that we know something about the appearance of a dinosaur (something scientists can really only guess at unless there is hard fossilized evidence of scales, hair, or in this case feathers. It also reinforces the connection between what we consider reptiles and what we consider birds. Dave says that all feathers really are are modified scales, as both are made of keratin. A pity that we will never know what color those eathers were, but hey... it's a start! And there is always the fact tha scientists DID say that they found many matching strands of DNA between the average chicken and the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which does lead to some interesting dinner conversations around our house especially after visiting Popeye's for take-out.

I'll take my velociraptor lightly breaded and deep fried with a side of gumbo please, and a biscuit.