Feathers Are In This Year

Birds descended from the dinosaurs, right? This notion is often explained to us as though we knew it was true. But the truth is we'll probably never know for sure. As long as that's the case, the topic of dinosaurs as ancestors to birds will be a "theory" (someone's idea of something they think is true, but don't know yet - some theories can be proven to be true for sure, and some cannot). Some scientists think that dinosaurs evolved to become modern day birds, and have "evidence" (that is, Facts that support their point of view) that they use to descibe why they think they are right. There are other scientists that may think the theory doesn't make any sense, and they should have evidence, too. There can be a lot of arguing about this, including whether "evidence" that is used is really "good" evidence!

Last fall (2001), a new fossil was found in China by a paleontologist named Mark Norell. There is an area in northeastern China called the Liaoning Province, where many fossils from the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods (about 125 million years ago!) have been found. This fossil showed feathers all over the fossil, and are preserved the best on the back edge of the forearms and hind limbs. This is definitely evidence that supports the theory that birds descended from dinosaurs!

But John Ruben, a zoologist at Oregon State University, doesn't think it makes sense for a flying animal to have flight feathers on the back of its legs. He says "how could it run or do anything with flight feathers sticking out of the back side of its leg?" Norell says why not? Certain kinds of hawks have big feathers on the backs of their legs and they fly just fine!

The best evidence for Norell's argument is the fossil itself. Who can argue with preserved feathers, right? So Ruben is questioning whether the fossil is "good" evidence! He wants to have it CAT scanned to see if it's all part of the same fossil!

We'll keep you up to date as this story develops!