Feathered Dinosaurs Were Even Fluffier

[suspsy]

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-11-feathered-dinosaurs-fluffier-thought.html

Very interesting! It makes me yearn for an affordable time machine. That's the only way we'll ever truly know how magnificent feathered dinosaurs truly were.

[SidB]

Fascinating study! No need to yearn for the "good ole days" in times like these.

[Faelrin]

Anchiornis again eh? Those feathers seem to have a really interesting shape. I wonder what it would be like to feel them. 

[Ravonium]

Is it just me, or does that Anchiornis look less songbird-like than previous depictions?

[Neosodon]

I'm somewhat doubtful that this study can really be used as solid evidence for paravians being all fluffy. Birds today tend to have both zipped and unzipped feathers. Chickens have almost all zipped feathers except for the rear which is fluffy. The feather impressions in the article may just be it's (for lack of a better word) butt fluff. Also feathers that have been damaged and have come into contact with mud can become unzipped and appear like mangy fluff feathers. Considering we don't know what part of the body the feather impressions our from or what kind of damage they could have received prior to or during fossilization I think it's a bit presumptuous to come to any conclusion. They say the kind of feathers in the article are extinct so I may be making a poor comparison. But even in the article they pose the problem associated with having all unzipped feathers.

"Anchiornis's unzipped feathers might have affected the animal's ability to control its temperature and repel water, possibly being less effective than the vanes of most modern feathers. This shaggy plumage would also have increased drag when Anchiornis glided."

[Patrx]

I look forward to hearing more about this from various expert voices in the community. The feathers being unzipped definitely seems to me like it could be a taphonomic thing, but on the other hand, presumably, the authors would have taken that into consideration already.

[WarrenJB]

It looks interesting, though I'm not entirely convinced by the teddy-bear fleece look on the reconstruction. I can't argue from a stronger standpoint than vague thoughts about the feather shape (not fully pennaceous, but not fully downy either) and personal aesthetics, though.

I'm a little confused about the wing feathers too. 'One row of feathers like modern birds' - I take it coverts don't count? Is there anything in the fossil that backs up the fairly haphazard arrangement of the wing feathers in the reconstruction? Sorry to say, it kind of reminds me of early feathers represented by a feather-duster mohawk on a leathery velociraptor.