Sex appeal helped dinosaurs take flight .New Research are dinosaurs asexual - A new study by UAlberta paleontologists explores how feathers went from the insulation of dinosaurs to enable flight.
Many dinosaurs were covered with simple hair-like feathers. These feathers served as insulation to keep them completely warm as dinosaurs and had nothing to do with flight. But it has not been clarified how these ordinary hairy feathers later developed into wings on complex wings.
New research - how did t rex mate did t rex mate for life
New research, led by a researcher from the College of Charleston, suggests that attracting peers with showy displays may have helped dinosaurs develop wings that allow them to fly.
"The first intricate feather wings show parachute and glide flying-squirrel-style through prehistoric treetops into small raptor dinosaurs," said Scott Persson, the lead author and author of the study of the Mess Brown Museum of Natural History College. Of Charleston. "In this study, we explore how dinosaurs went from living with simple hairy feathers to gliding over complex feathers. "
Individuals at the University of Alberta and their colleagues propose that it was not natural selection, but sexual selection, which inhibited the development of complex plumage. This spectacular tail is similar to the wings, which is believed to help male peacocks to attract the attention of potential companions.
Paleontologist Scott Persons recently discovered the world's largest T. Pictured here with Rex "Scooty", led Uuelberta's study of how dinosaur wings changed over time and enabled flight.
Studies make matters bigger that steffers, flattering wings grow very slowly and are waved in courtship on absorbent fans of arms and tail and display courtship, eventually leading to the development of birds - one Interpretation supported by the growing fossil record. Of early wings.
Dinosaur eggs are few and mysterious. So few ever even had the chance to hatch, and fossilized embryos inside fossilized eggs are very rare.
Evolution:
The development of avian flight is one of the most important changes in vertebrate development. There are now over ten thousand species of birds and the only group of dinosaurs to survive mass extinction. The extraordinary success of birds is associated with their ability to fly. But, to develop in complex flying wings, conventional natural selection needs to be stimulated by sexual selection.
Effectively, sexual selection gave rise to an increased complexity, which paved the difference between one function to another. “Recognizing that significant contributions teach us something fundamental and important about the evolutionary process. Dinosaurs and feathers have implications beyond the single example of evolution, ”says Persons.
For their study, scientists used an old metaphor called an adaptive landscape - a graphical representation of how different beneficial traits occur in an evolving group of organisms.
In this study published in scientific journal Evolution, new light has been thrown on the developmental steps of dinosaurs to birds, yet there are so many paleontological mysteries to find out about fossil feathers.
"We are still recalling a clear example of sexually dim feathers in dinosaurs. Today, it is easy to tell the gender of many birds on the basis of their wings," Persons said. "The male birds are large, flaming and brightly feathered Because they are going to perform. It was very right about the winged dinosaurs, but we have not yet got a definite example of this. "