Re: Fossil Dinosaur Eggs Discovered

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 07:59 PM 11/18/98 -0000, John Jackson wrote:
>Are these skin impressions from the first ever scaly small endotherms, or
>are they "feather buds"?
>

The skin impressions appear very similar to those of adult sauropods.

We now have data to show sauropods lacked feathers/proto-feathers/whatever
prior to hatching, and as adults.  Until such time as we find positive
evidence feathery juvenile sauropods, we should work under the assumption
that they weren't feathered at any part of their life cycle.

This is the data end.  What this implies about the thermal ecology of baby
sauropods is another question entirely.

Or, don't put the model before the data.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661