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Anonymous
Dear /an/,

Give me proof that the velociraptor was feathered.
>> Anonymous
Hold on, let me go get my time machine. GTFO
>> Anonymous
It flew didn't it? Fly = Feathers!
>> That Gomez
>>150768
what about ostrich and emu?

also: bats
>> Anonymous
>>150758
Fun Fact of the Day: Bats have feathers.
>> Anonymous
Give me proof that sabertooth cats had hair.

Give me proof that terror birds had feathers.

There's no direct proof for any of these, just taxonomic positioning. Velociraptor's direct ancestors were feathered, there is no reason to believe it had lost the feathered, ergo: feathers.

Mind you, terror birds and sabertooth cats could have had scaly skin, and we wouldn't ever know about it.
>> Anonymous
>>150768
bats and insects fly
>> Anonymous
wikipedia
>> Anonymous
Sinornithosaurus. Microraptor. Cryptovolans. Tsaagan. Shanag.

All of these were fellow 'raptors from roughly the same time and place as Velociraptor. All of them were found with definitive fossil evidence of feathers. It'd be pretty fucked up for every 'raptor in that area to have feathers and Velociraptor just magically be the only bald one of the bunch, now wouldn't it?

And fuck, just what the hell is it with /an/ being so freaked out by the idea of feathered dinosaurs? Just what is so wrong with that that it causes this forum to get so worked up over it? This is the third thread like this that I've seen in as many days.
>> Anonymous
Is that a greasel?
>> sage sage
sage
>> Anonymous
Phylogenetic bracketing motherfucker, do you know it? Seriously though, cladistics is a wonderful thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaurs
>> Anonymous
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>>150768
Fuck you and your feathers D:<
>> Anonymous
>>150768
hahahaha oh wow
>> Anonymous
>>150768
Not always......
>> Anonymous
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>>150768
lol wut?
>> Anonymous
sage
>> Anonymous
>>150829
It's because most people who don't already know velociraptor had feathers are so used to the scaly reptilian look of old.

I really don't care if it had a downy coat of feathers, I just don't want it to end up looking like a rooster with teeth.
>> Anonymous
The feathers don't shock me, but I don't understand why it would have "prot-wings".
It didn't need it if he didn't fly, after all.
And seeing how today non flying birds just don't have then anymore, I really don't see why he would.
Same with the legs long feathers. Why? modern birds legs are scally after all.
Is it because of that "4 winged" one they found?
That would be quite a big generalisation, don't you think?
>> Anonymous
no
>> Anonymous
>>150921
It's still not clear if wing feathers evolved for gliding down from trees or to aid jumping and running. If the latter, Velociraptor would have had a good reason to retain wing feathers in its arms. Also, they're useful for brooding and display as well (and other secondarily flightless dinos had them too).

As for the leg wings... well, we know Microraptor, Pedopenna and Archaeopteryx had those, but, well, I don't see any reason for Velociraptor would retain those. It might have had feathery legs down to the ankle, though, since insulation would have been good for a small dinosaurs during those cool Mongolian desert nights.
>> Anonymous
>>150927

a feathery body helps to keep in warmth, which is essential for endotherms like mammals. The evolution of hair allowed mammals to live as endotherms....perhaps feathers allowed dinosaurs to live as warm-blooded animals as well.
>> Anonymous
>>150941
Actually there isn't really any reason left to assume that theropod dinosaurs would've been anything but endothermic. Also, warm insulation like the coat of feathers found on dinosaurs would have killed an ectotherm (you can kill a lizard by wrapping it in fur!) so there's really no alternative.
>> Anonymous
>>150945

the theory that theropod dinosaurs were endotherms rose from the appearance of their skeletons. you have no idea whether or not other dinosaurs would have been ectotherms or endotherms. what i was saying was, that maybe theropod dinosaurs evolved feathers in tandem with endothermia, like it did in mammals, at least in smaller species. btw, putting feathers on a modern day endotherm does not show that dinosaurs would have been effected in the same way.
>> Anonymous
>>150959
Please stop being a retard. Adding efficient insulation on an ectotherm of any type would result in the poor animal overheating. This is not guesswork, it is a fact. NO ectotherm has any sort of efficient insulation, while dinosaur feathers in maniraptorans were identical to modern bird feathers.

Also, dinosaur bones have been shown to prove that the body heat of dinosaurs was well regulated. We also know about dinosaurs having four-chambered hearts and an efficient bird-like lung system. All of this speaks of endothermy. Nothing actually points to ectothermy, other than the out-dated thinking of dinosaurs as "reptiles".

(A funny thing: some scientists speculate early crocodiles may have been primitively endothermic and lost this thermoregulating ability when adapting to their watery stalking way of life. This would make rise the possibility that the ancestral archosaur was a primitive endotherm too.)
>> Anonymous
>>150988

you're still not listening to what im saying

maybe theropod dinosaurs evolved feathers in tandem with endothermia, like it did in mammals, at least in smaller species
>> Anonymous
>>150921
emu, ostrach, do these birds fly?

furthermore, just because an animal doesn't need wings, does that mean they just cease to exist? evolution Motherfucker, do you speak it? The wings wouldn't just fall off, they might take several thousand decades to degenerate....
kind of like our spleen. We don't use it, but we have it.
>> Anonymous
I wonder why Feduccia hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet?
>> Anonymous
>>151268
Because he's blatantly ignorant and biased?
>> Anonymous
>>151280
Kinda like OP?
>> Anonymous
the question in my mind is why feathers, and not hair? scales, hair, and feathers are all the same material, but feathers are far more complex.
>> Anonymous
>>151291
Dude, quit trolling the dinosaur guys.
>> Anonymous
>>151291

and diamond is also totally the same material as graphite because they're both made of carbon, amirite?
>> Anonymous
>>151299

I think you're missing his point. Think about the structure of a scale, the structure of a hair, and then the structure of a feather.

and yes, graphite and diamonds are both carbon, but the latter is far rarer because it's more difficult to create in nature.
>> Anonymous
>>151313

...which are all made out of pretty much the same materials but they are entirely different in terms of structure.

Do you NEED sarcasm tags in order to see a sarcastic comment?
>> Anonymous
>>151313
diamonds are not as rare as you think
>> Hyper Cutter !XQ6W0CNp/o
>>150768
No, feathers= insulation and probably display.

And probably a lot of dinosaurs (especially the smaller ones) were feathered.
>> Anonymous
>>151291
Imagine a bird flying with wings made of hair.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151715
Cripes that is awesome. Mulletbird? Bearded Neck Oreo? Blue Jerry Curls? This one has a handlebar mustache!
>> Anonymous
>>151726
oh god, the mulletbird sounds terrifying, beware it's mournful honkeytonk honk!
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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The Majestic Mulletbird swoops in to prey on the tiny Beer Rat. Pictured here is the adult male in his mating plumage: cowboy boots and a nascar muscle shirt.
>> Anonymous
>>151736
needs a cigarette dangling from it's beak
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151738
>> Anonymous
>>151740
win!
>> Anonymous
>>151740
your like the audubon of fake mspaint birds!
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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Here we see the rare Red Headed Lumpsucker, which is endangered due to overhunting. This is no great loss.
>> Anonymous
>>151750
I think carrot top is hitting the roids lately, he keeps getting bulkier and scarier looking
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151764
It's called exercise. You should look into it.
>> Anonymous
>>151765
comedians don't exercise though...
>> Anonymous
>>151765
Besides, even his damn cheek muscles have definition! that shit doesn't happen at the gym
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151766
>>151767
It's not like he has anything else to do.
>> Anonymous
I'm gonna stick to the roids theory, he probably has some retarded prop he made just to inject himself with
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151770
Some of us are destined to never find companionship, never find lasting solace in the arms of another, and the sooner we accept this, the sooner a new world of previously unimagined dangers opens up to us.
In the exploration of these dangers, we become living testaments to the virtues of struggle, and gain a stamina that others shall never have the privilege to know.
Rather than drift into slumber in the bed of an eternal stranger, we seek a bed of flames, and with no partner, no pair, no twin, we attain a singular uniqueness and inflict upon ourselves a solitude that is the unhealing wound from which all our strength flows.
We alone know that all flesh is grass, that all promises are fantasies, that all dreams are narcotics.
We alone live without lies, without the need to enslave or to be enslaved.
We write the stories of our lives patiently, and from the other side of death. The realm of eternity is ours alone.
>> Anonymous
>>151772
0 to crazy in 10 minutes
>> Anonymous
>>151773
that's why he gets the biggest serving of tapioca, it keeps him calm in the meal hall
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151775
I do loves me some tapioca.
>> Anonymous
>>151776
bring us some new kitten pictures bitter, /an/ needs some life
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151777
But I'm ranting....
>> Anonymous
>>151778
oh fine
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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As an aside, for any potential hobbyists out there, you should know that you can get a surprisingly diverse array of gynecological equipment for extremely low prices, provided you are willing to purchase it used, and not to ask any questions about where it came from. In fact, much of this equipment is so cheap, that even if you weren’t planning on performing unlicensed gynecological procedures, you owe yourself to look into acquiring some this fine German quality merchandise if for no reason other than to have them available as conversation starters, or possibly for purposes of self-defense.
>> Anonymous
>>151781
awwww, thanks
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151783
I will track you to the disgusting hovels you call home and wait for you in the darkness. Hidden snipers will surround your house at night to ensure no-one escapes. My personal death commandos will break down your door and kidnap, torture and mutilate your mother and father before finally putting them to death by forcing their sliced, burned, perforated and punctured bodies feet-first into a meat grinder. You yourself will be stripped, tied up with piano wire, beaten with red-hot iron bars and whipped into submission with razor wire. When you are finally reduced to a blubbering wreck of scorched and lacerated flesh, you will be brought before me, and I will daunt you and defile your malformed soul with the terror of my eyes.
>> Anonymous
>>151786
what the fuck
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>151788
Adaptive Systems.
>> Anonymous
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>>151786
sounds good! here, have a speculum for your collection
>> Anonymous
>>151786
you know bitter, your cats are adorable.
DO WANT
>> Anonymous
the big question is, are they named biscuit?
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151790
I don't actually collect them.

>>151791
Thanks.
>> Anonymous
>>151794
oh god, that's lethal levels of cute
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151795
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
Also, no, they are Caesar and Paris.
>> Anonymous
we do loves those snailkitten kittens. She kept all the haet for herself and super concentrated the cute in them.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151800
False. This little fucker attacks my eyes. My goddamn eyes. He will sneak up on me while I'm watching television or typing or whatever. He perches upon my shoulder and creaks (he refuses to purr, but he does make some kind of sound), and then attacks my face. He tries to pull open my eyelids and remove my eyes.
>> Anonymous
>>150868


That's fucking adorable. :3
>> Anonymous
>>151802
O_O

it's always the quiet ones...
>> Anonymous
>>151802
great, now I'm going to have nightmares about eyeball eating kittens
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151806
He's coming for you.
>> Anonymous
>>151772
>>151781
>>151786

Courtesy of Adaptive Systems, poster over at Something Awful. Best crazy genius or bestest crazy genius?


Also, the snailkittens are chock-ful of haet, you can see it in their evil eyes.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151821
Definitely bestest crazy genius. His rants make excellent conversation enders.

The kittens are mini balls of haet, though one of them is a bit.. slow.
>> Anonymous
>>151823

How can you tell if they even like you? I can't imagine them purring or rubbing up or snuggling.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>151827
Well, Paris (the light one) follows me around yowling and running into things. If I close the door to a room, he screams and claws at it. He is my own personal stalker. Caesar (formerly Vidal, but no one could pronounce that name, and Caesar is almost as awesome as Biscuit), does that bizarre creaking thing whenever I touch him, and I assume his lust for my eyes is some form of affection, as he doesn't try to eat anyone else's.
>> Anonymous !mFK66iWE8c
CHAOS
>> Anonymous
>>151828

Does Paris follow you into the toilet or shower?
>> Anonymous
>>150925
>> Anonymous !mFK66iWE8c
>>151828

ASDGHHGFD
>> Anonymous
>>151828

Record and share. I shared a flat with a cat that enjoyed stalking around making these weird prrrrruuuiiiij-noises. She did purr quite often, but would rarely meuw.