How did feathers evolve? - Carl Zimmer
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21,341 Questions Answered
Let’s Begin…
To
look at the evolution of modern bird feathers, we must start a long time ago,
with the dinosaurs from whence they came. We see early incarnations of feathers
on dinosaur fossils, and remnants of dinosaurs in a bird’s wish bone.
Carl Zimmer explores the stages of evolution and how even the reasons
for feathers have evolved over millions of years.
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Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a "Chickenosaurus".
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, orplumage, on birds and some non-avian theropoddinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty.
Watch this video by the BBC about feathers and dinosaurs and the mystery that baffled many scientists.
Eosinopteryx feathered dinosaur offers clues on bird evolution, an article by BBC.
Carl Zimmer wrote an article for National Geographic, published February 2011, on Feather Evolution.
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Meet The Creators
- Artist Armella Leung
- Educator Carl Zimmer
- Sound Designer Olivier Oswald
- Narrator Carl Zimmer