Re: feather stuff

[Thomas Duffy <thomasd@clark.edu>]

On Sat, 10 Feb 1996, Morgan Family wrote:

> >>  ...and, of course, another reason why, in my mind, it's likely that they
> >>all had feathers is the question of insulation on the smaller dinos.
> >
> >Insulation from what? The entire Mesozoic was warmer  than Florida is today.
> >The polar climes of the later Mesozoic were still much warmer than the modern
> >day poles are. Then there is the nasty problem of endothermy/homeothermy
> >especially in regards to the migrating dinos. The thermoregulation problem is
> >at least much more apprachable to solving than speculating about feathers.
> >IMHO
> Excuse me, but wasn't there something in _Raptor Red_ with the dinos running 
> around in the snow? I know the book wasn't the most scientifically accurate, 
> but would good ol' Bob really get the paleo-clime completely wrong? I don't 
> see how a _Utahraptor_, much less a _Deinonychus_ or _Troodon_, could survive 
> in that kind of weather without some kind of insulation.
> 
That's a good point--does anybody know exactly how
cold the Mesozoic poles DID get?

And remember that even tropical and desert climes
can become quite cold at night...

                       
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