tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post9011423692202470765..comments2023-11-18T15:42:20.251-05:00Comments on DinoGoss: Heat, Feathers, and Half-Arsed VelociraptorMatt Martyniukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04220900229537564466noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-89016676894078511182014-04-23T11:21:23.823-04:002014-04-23T11:21:23.823-04:00I'm not sure that's true, considering the ...I'm not sure that's true, considering the huge amount of muscular control in the tongues of creatures like psittacenes and finch-like birds? I don't know much about the level of flexibility, but the size of bird tongue-to-beak is hugely variable (kookaburras have a ridiculous little nub, while parrot tongues fill the whole beak). I have also observed that pigeons have rather large tongues and wet mouths (they even use it as a communication--very content, settled pigeons do a terribly cute thing of sticking the tip of the tongue out from the end of the beak and in again repeatedly, which is reminiscent of the beakgrinding famous in contented parrots). There is a great deal of variation in avian tongues, either way. Laughing Dovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14532520534949631786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-61237055214352559872011-12-05T14:58:27.591-05:002011-12-05T14:58:27.591-05:00Magnificiently well written, and most informative....Magnificiently well written, and most informative. Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-5923407230440566472011-09-16T08:20:39.519-04:002011-09-16T08:20:39.519-04:00@Holly Amber
Actually, neither Microraptor nor Vel...@Holly Amber<br />Actually, neither Microraptor nor Velociraptor are known to have "protofeathers." Microraptor has feathers identical to those o modern birds, and by all indications, so did Velociraptor. Certainly, modern bird feathers are conducive to flight or at least gliding. All animals we know of that may have had "protofeathers", the feathers (really more like modern chick down than "proto"-anything) are either very short (again, think of the wings of a baby chicken) or long and quill-like (like a porcupine), so would not have been much use in flight, though there may be intermediate forms we haven't found yet with long, downy wing feathers that would lend some aerial ability.<br /><br />Look forward to seeing your blog!Matt Martyniukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04220900229537564466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-10979290503196331202011-09-15T19:33:10.850-04:002011-09-15T19:33:10.850-04:00I wonder if protofeathers could aid in gliding and...I wonder if protofeathers could aid in gliding and/or flight. I'm just thinking of that because a lot of scientists say microraptor could glide. Microraptor is closely related to velociraptor I would assume since they're both raptors. If raptors only had protofeathers, could they glide with that? I wonder what type of feather microraptor had. Is it a more evolved type of feather than velociraptor, I wonder? I doubt anyone here knows the answer, but I felt compelled to muse publicly.<br /><br />By the way, I recently started blogging about dinosaurs myself and I'm following your blog. I guess you could call me another "armchair paleontologist". I checked out your website and it's pretty cool. I'm actually working on a dinosaur website myself right now for my web design class. When its done, would you like to take a look at it? It's supposed to be about how to draw dinosaurs. I'm doing my best to make it accurate if I can by doing research on dinosaurs online. I'm not a professional paleontologist, obviously, so I'd like as many bits of help and suggestions I can get on my research. Do you mind if I e-mail you so you can take a look at my research so far?Holly Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16389118259043215268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-54373980858772641112011-02-21T18:30:42.245-05:002011-02-21T18:30:42.245-05:00@Tabbyraptor
I would expect inflexible considering...@Tabbyraptor<br />I would expect inflexible considering that all living theropods (that I know of) share this feature.Tomozaurushttp://tomozaurus.deviantart.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-8941179679515077952011-02-20T21:59:15.103-05:002011-02-20T21:59:15.103-05:00@Matt:
That's an excellent point. I would giv...@Matt: <br />That's an excellent point. I would give a lot to know whether the animal had a thicker, flexible mammal-like tongue, or a thin, relatively immobile bird-like one. That would make a fairly critical difference in hygiene practices.Tabbyraptornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-21550532126199915452011-02-20T18:56:45.723-05:002011-02-20T18:56:45.723-05:00@Tabbyraptor:
It's certainly possible, althoug...@Tabbyraptor:<br />It's certainly possible, although again, it's important to consider the function behind such adaptations. Pennaceous feathers are more difficult to clean for modern birds, especially on the head where preening with the bill is impossible. However, the head and most body feathers of smaller dromaeosaurs were not generally pennaceous (except for the crown in some species), rather they were filamentous. Those structures would be more analogous to mammalian hair, and in mammals you don't really see fur loss due to carnivory. In fact not even all vultures have bald heads, and I've read (can't think of where) that the typical bald head of turkey vultures and condors may be as much for display as for hygiene.Matt Martyniukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04220900229537564466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-41805777231916157272011-02-20T09:04:23.152-05:002011-02-20T09:04:23.152-05:00There's also behavior to consider. Covering th...There's also behavior to consider. Covering the muzzle in feathers, even partway down like the artist has in the "real" version, may not have worked for a predatory animal that's going to have to be plunging its face into a kill. An extreme example would be today's vultures, though I doubt a <i>Velociraptor</i> would have had the fully bald head and neck. <br /><br />It's been long suggested that <i>Velociraptor's</i> retractable claws indicate that it took relatively large prey in comparison to its body size. That could potentially suggest the behavior of probing into the prey's body cavity for nutritious viscera, an thus the need to keep portions of the face free of feathers. <br /><br />Just a thought.Tabbyraptornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-2143421805034849662011-02-14T23:29:24.314-05:002011-02-14T23:29:24.314-05:00"...there's nothing obviously inaccurate ..."...there's nothing obviously inaccurate about it, or at least implausible."<br /><br />Note the pronated hands and lack of primary feathers. I'd also claim the naked pubic boot and underside of the tail as fairly implausible.<br /><br />Nice post. It gives some additional helpful information I can include on my second version of the image.Tomozaurushttp://tomozaurus.deviantart.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140938929136406282.post-21268317730751867652011-02-14T21:43:06.317-05:002011-02-14T21:43:06.317-05:00This blog just took a level in awesome. If that we...This blog just took a level in awesome. If that were possible.Albertonykushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00345306530772709064noreply@blogger.com