Weird dino rewrites the book on birds

October 22, 2008 A paleontologist prepares the fossils

A paleontologist seen in March 2008, prepares the fossils of a 66 million year-old Tyrannosaurus rex in Los Angeles. A tiny, egg-robbing dinosaur that lived more than 150 million years ago could help explain a key phase in the evolution of birds, scientists reported on Wednesday. The beast was a distant relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex but was no bigger than a kitten.

A tiny, egg-robbing dinosaur that lived more than 150 million years ago could help explain a key phase in the evolution of birds, scientists reported on Wednesday.

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jeffsaunders - Oct 22, 2008
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Maybe a lot more dinosaurs had feathers but we just did not get good fossils from them.
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Sophos - Oct 23, 2008
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wouldn't colorful feathers make the animal stand out against any background making them easy targets for predators. It seems like this would lead to the rapid extinction of these animals and not a beneficial trait?
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SgntZim - Oct 23, 2008
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Lots of birds have colourful plumage. Peacocks, New Guine pheasants, woodpeckers, Robins etc. They're all still about.
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Sophos - Oct 28, 2008
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good point
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