Feathered dinosaurs muse magazine9/2/2023 ![]() ![]() In the days that followed, I would hear from many people who were sad about Pluto. When Pluto was officially demoted from planet to dwarf planet, many people objected to the loss of one of our solar system’s icons. But I think Mike Brown identified one important thread in his book How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming. I don’t think anyone has successfully articulated why we’re so enthralled by these creatures. I can’t explain why this is so any more than I can explain why we adore dinosaurs in the first place. Before I knew the extent of the evidence, even I felt a little sad that so many of the scabrous, ugly dinosaurs I met as a kid were turned into pretty peacocks. It’s cool to show contempt for new discoveries in favor of the dinosaurs we grew up with. Some people just don’t like feathery dinosaurs, many wept and wailed at the false assertion of journalists that Triceratops might disappear, and “ Brontosaurus” still stirs up strong feelings among those who grew up with the thunder lizard. All the same, his post and other comments about how Yutyrannus has somehow ruined tyrannosaurs made me wonder about why it is so fashionable to register cranky displeasure with the way dinosaurs have changed. He makes it quite clear that he’s entirely on board with the science. And none of this is to say that Wildman objects to the evidence of feathered dinosaurs. I actually wouldn’t mind a strutting tyrannosaur, even though I admit that Dinosaur Revolution‘s Gigantoraptor sequence was a little over the top. Citing the awesomeness of Tyrannosaurus in Dinosaur Revolution, and how silly the feathery Gigantoraptor looked, Wildman challenged readers: “Do you really want the ultimate theropods, the megastars of the dinosaurian world-the tyrannosaurs-displaying colourful yet gaudy feathers and dancing like a demented turkey cock?” ![]() Well that isn’t going to happen-certainly not by me and, I am sure, not for many others.” And to dapple Tyrannosaurus with feathers would be the ultimate indignity. “Those of us who like our dinosaurs scaly appear to be frowned upon,” Wildman wrote, “as if we don’t know what we are talking about and that we really ought to ‘get with it’ and rejoice that the dinosaurs are covered in fuzz and feathers. Paleo blogger Mark Wildman recently jumped in with a post titled “ In Defence of Scaly Dinosaurs.” He was sad to see yet another proud dinosaurian lineage turn fluffy. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen!” mourned one WIRED commenter, and elsewhere, Yutyrannus was presented as a “fuzzball” and “ chicken from hell.” And while the outrage was not as great as when people mistakenly believed that paleontologists were trying to kill Triceratops, at least some dinosaur fans lamented the increasingly avian aspect of tyrannosaurs.Ī restoration of Yutyrannus, with the therizinosaurs Beipiaosaurus in the foreground, by Brian Choo. Why are paleontologists so committed to destroying the fantastic imagery Jurassic Park embedded in our cultural landscape? Across the web, tyrannosaur traditionalists registered their displeasure. ![]() “Tyrannosaurs were supposed to be scaly,” came the cantankerous cry from die-hard fans of more reptilian dinosaurs. The tyrant king may not have been the wholly scaly monstrosity I grew up knowing, but an apex predator decorated by patches of simple protofeathers. And if an imposing predator like Yutyrannus sported a fuzzy coat, the same might be true for the theropod’s notorious cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. While most of the feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been very small and often quite bird-like animals, Yutyrannus was a roughly 30-foot-long bruiser which showed that even huge predators might have sported fluffy plumage. ![]() The dinosaur, dubbed Yutyrannus, was a confirmation of an idea that researchers and artists had been cautiously exploring for years. When I first heard the news that paleontologists had discovered a giant, fuzzy tyrannosaur, I was giddy with excitement. ![]()
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