MORE "Dinosaur Planet"dinosaurs!!!(This time with feathers)

["TIMOTHY BRIDGEMAN" <timlee3005@earthlink.net>]

>From what I can see,most of the animals featured look very nice.I especially
like the Protoceratops and Prenocephale.However, I do not particularly agree
that all small theropods should automatically be covered in feathers.The
evidence for feathered dromaeosaurs,such as "Dave" and the recent "four
winged dinosaur"is questionable to me,because they came from the same source
(even the same quarry)as the infamous"Archaeoraptor".The feather impressions
on the fossils may have been doctored prior to being sold at those mineral
shows.There are ways to do this as demonstrated on a cheesy show made by
Arthur C.Clark,claiming that Archaeopteryx was a hoax.* (We all know that
claim was not true,but a method of making feather impressions on fossils
using modern feathers was shown.)The only Chinese fossils with feather
impressions that I totally beleve are those like Caudipteryx and
Protarchaeopteryx,which I am not totally convinced are dinosaurs,rather than
primitive flightless birds.As for the "protofeathers"of the likes of
Sinosauropteryx ,I believe that there is as much of a chance that the traces
of what appears to be some kind of integuement are actually traces of
decayed connective tissue.I cannot say that there is no possibility that
birds are descended from dinosaurs,but I do not believe that we have such
incontrovertible evidence for the idea.Overall though,it should still be a
very good show.