125-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Feathers Reveal Traces of Ancient Proteins
November 4, 2023 8:18 PM Subscribe
125-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Feathers Reveal Traces of Ancient Proteins. Paleontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather evolution.
Previous studies suggested that ancient feathers had a different composition to the feathers of birds today. The new research, however, reveals that the protein composition of modern-day feathers was also present in the feathers of dinosaurs and early birds, confirming that the chemistry of feathers originated much earlier than previously thought.
If you get a chance, check out the series on AppleTV that's a nature documentary—but with dinosaurs. Some of it is spectacular.
I found the first episode surprisingly dull. And I have only seen a handful of episodes... But there's one that really stood out to me. There was an entire segment of velociraptor type dinosaurs hunting pterodactyl type dinosaurs on a cliff face by the ocean. (I probably have the names very wrong)
The raptors used pack tactics, stealth and surprise to get the jump on the flying dinos. And seeing these St. Bernard-sized turkey-looking dinos hunting on this precarious surface was just incredible. Scrambling, falling, barely teetering, clawing. It shows how the feathers helped them stabilize and move without even having the ability to fly. It all just makes such a perfect (lay-person's) sense that they had these feathers, and how it all might have worked so long ago. And watching how the pterodactyl-type animals moved around, walking on the stumps of their folded wings, is mind boggling.
I haven't watched the entire series, but I highly recommend it. They take special care to re-create the exact kinds of camera techniques and lensing that are used in the typical National Geographic, high quality nature docs. So the result is less "Jurassic Park" and far more down to earth and real feeling. Narrated by Attenborough! They take care to explain how some of this is still hypotheses, and there's an accompanying show that explains the research that went in to making these fake documentary (I have not seen any of that though).
One segment was shot like they had hidden Go-Pros in the nest of some dinosaur, so you see the baby-eye-view, wide angle lens distortion as the mother comes to check on the babies. It looks exactly like a very high budget nature documentary, except that it was shot millions of years ago.
Extremely cool. Skip around if some parts aren't great. Like I said, I was surprised by the first episode, but later episodes were much better. I watched only parts, but I highly recommend it. Maybe I'll watch more tonight!
posted by SoberHighland at 10:37 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
I found the first episode surprisingly dull. And I have only seen a handful of episodes... But there's one that really stood out to me. There was an entire segment of velociraptor type dinosaurs hunting pterodactyl type dinosaurs on a cliff face by the ocean. (I probably have the names very wrong)
The raptors used pack tactics, stealth and surprise to get the jump on the flying dinos. And seeing these St. Bernard-sized turkey-looking dinos hunting on this precarious surface was just incredible. Scrambling, falling, barely teetering, clawing. It shows how the feathers helped them stabilize and move without even having the ability to fly. It all just makes such a perfect (lay-person's) sense that they had these feathers, and how it all might have worked so long ago. And watching how the pterodactyl-type animals moved around, walking on the stumps of their folded wings, is mind boggling.
I haven't watched the entire series, but I highly recommend it. They take special care to re-create the exact kinds of camera techniques and lensing that are used in the typical National Geographic, high quality nature docs. So the result is less "Jurassic Park" and far more down to earth and real feeling. Narrated by Attenborough! They take care to explain how some of this is still hypotheses, and there's an accompanying show that explains the research that went in to making these fake documentary (I have not seen any of that though).
One segment was shot like they had hidden Go-Pros in the nest of some dinosaur, so you see the baby-eye-view, wide angle lens distortion as the mother comes to check on the babies. It looks exactly like a very high budget nature documentary, except that it was shot millions of years ago.
Extremely cool. Skip around if some parts aren't great. Like I said, I was surprised by the first episode, but later episodes were much better. I watched only parts, but I highly recommend it. Maybe I'll watch more tonight!
posted by SoberHighland at 10:37 AM on November 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
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(don't tell John Hammond!)
posted by supermedusa at 10:00 AM on November 5, 2023 [3 favorites]