I Know Dino Podcast: Kulindadromeus

[ad_1]

Episode 12 is all about Kulindadromeus, a dinosaur the scale of a turkey that was lined in feathers.

You possibly can hearken to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

On this episode, we talk about:

The dinosaur of the day: Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, which implies “Kulinda River operating dinosaur
Kulindadromeus was found in Zabaikalsky Krai, Siberia

It lived within the Jurassic, about 160 million years in the past, close to the Kulinda River
Kulindadromeuswas small, in regards to the dimension of a turkey and solely 5 ft lengthy

It walked on two legs, had quick arms, and had scales on its tail and shins and quick bristles on its head and again

The largest discovery of Kulindadromeus have been the fossil feathers. It is because Kulindadromeus is an herbivore, and the perfect instance of a non-theropod with feathers
Paleontologist Steve Brusatte from the College of Edinburgh stated feathers most likely existed in dinosaur’s widespread ancestor

Earlier than Kulindadromeus the principle dinosaurs discovered with feathers have been theropods, the ancestors of recent birds
In China, no less than 5 forms of feathered dinosaurs have been found previously 20 years. However they have been largely raptors
Pascal Godefroit, the lead writer of the Kulindadromeus examine, stated scientists had foundornisthischians with bristles or quills, however it was unclear in the event that they have been actual feathers

Not all dinosaurs had feathers (for instance sauropods would have been too heat with them as a result of they’re too giant; like how elephants don’t have hair
Smaller dinosaurs have been most likely lined in feathers, however once they grew up they might have misplaced them as a result of they not wanted the insulation

Kulindadromeus had feathers on its legs and arms. Every feather had six or seven filaments joined collectively, resembling down feathers of recent chickens

Maria McNamara, a researcher on the College School Cork stated that feathers and hair are hardly ever preserved in fossils as a result of scavengers are inclined to take away them from the useless animal

As a result of there have been lots of volcanoes within the space, the Kulindadromeus specimens most likely died, fell to the underside of the lake, then have been lined in ash after an eruption. The ash preserved their feather imprints. This roundabout technique of fossilizing softer materials explains why fossils of feathers are so unusual
A lot of the Kulindadromeus bones discovered have been of juveniles, which implies they most likely died individually from each other, and never in a mass catastrophic occasion

There are three forms of feather fossils discovered: hair-like filaments that lined the trunk, neck, and head and seemed like dino fuzz; teams of 6-7 downward dealing with filaments that originated from a base plate and have been on the higher arm and thigh; and 6-7 ribbon-like buildings on the higher and decrease legs
Kulindadromeus didn’t use its feathers to fly, and it’s not clear what the feathers have been for (could have been for insulation or show)
Kulindadromeus had scales in addition to feathers. It had arched scales that shaped rows on its tail

There are additionally three forms of scales: overlapping hexagonal scales on the decrease shins; small, spherical, non-overlapping scales on the fingers, ankles, and ft; and rows of arched rectangular scales on the highest of the tail
Kulindadromeus is a neornithiscia, a clade of the order ornithischia

Neornithischians are united by having a thicker layer of asymmetrical enamel on the within of their decrease enamel. The enamel wore erratically with chewing and developed sharp ridges that allowed neornithischians to interrupt down more durable plant meals than different dinosaurs

Enjoyable truth: About half of all of the recognized dinosaur species have been found previously 20 years

[ad_2]