Over 30 species of non - avian dinosaurs have been confirm to have feathering , either from unmediated fossilized evidence of plumage , or other indicator , such as quill knobs . Up until now , all of those dinosaurs were confirm to be carnivorous bird-footed dinosaur , like Velociraptor and the ancestors of birds . However , fossilize remains of a newfangled type of herbivorous dinosaur betoken thatalldinosaurs may have had feathers . The sketch was led by Pascal Godefroit from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural account in Brussels and the solution were published inScience .
The fogy were discovered at the Kulinda site in Siberia , along the Sir Joseph Banks of the Olov River . The novel species , Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus , was key in 2013 and preliminary K - Ar testing estimates that the coinage lived about 169 - 150 million twelvemonth ago . It was around 3 meter retentive , which is comparatively small for a dinosaur . The two-footed animal had inadequate forelimbs and longer hind leg with five digits . The description was made based on hundreds of uncomplete skeletons , including six skull .
The fact that the skeleton were not found intact could indicate that while the dinosaur were live , that environment had rivers . Upon the dinosaur ’s destruction , the water supply likely transported the creature , cause portions of the frame to disassociate . These special soul were in all likelihood compensate by sediment on the bottom of the river , protecting the carcase from magpie , and allowing imprints from the plume and scale to be preserve .
" I was really amazed when I saw this , ” Godefroit stated in apress release . “ We knew that some of the industrial plant - eating ornithischian dinosaur had simple bristles , and we could n’t be certain whether these were the same kinds of structures as bird and theropod feathering . Our new find clinches it : all dinosaurs had feathers , or at least the voltage to sprout plume . ”
The fossilized feathers were send to specialist who had previous experience with dinosaur feathers . The feather discovered at the Kulinda site were in noteworthy status , allowing the expert to find out that the feathers were composed of filaments that link at the base , rather than along a cardinal shaft , like is seen in many modern birds .
" Developmental experiment in New poulet suggest that avian scale are aborted plumage , an musical theme that explains why skirt have scaly legs , ” co - author Danielle Dhouailly added . “ The astounding find is that the molecular mechanisms ask for this switch might have been so clearly related to the visual aspect of the first feathers in the earliest dinosaurs . ”
The researchers suspect that feathers were a common lineament among dinosaurs , particularly smaller 1 . They were in all likelihood used to insulate the creature , and evolve to help in flight much after . fossil have shown evidence of feathered dinosaurs over a 50 million yr timespan , and it is possible that they first appear 220 million years ago in the Triassic . Of of course , it is a bit speculative to adopt that every dinosaur could have had feathers , and a swell deal of research will be postulate to fully explore the prevalence of feathering among dinosaurs .
