Re: Jurassic Park

[Jeff Poling <jpoling@dinosauria.com>]

At 08:53 PM 9/26/98 -0700, Peter Von Sholly wrote:
>> _Sinosauropteryx_ may have had feathers, but there's no evidence that 
>> _Compsognathus_ (the only other known compsognathid) did.  The 
>> type specimen of _Compsognathus_ from Bavaria is quite naked, yet 
>> pterosaurs and _Archaeopteryx_ from the same limestones show at 
>> least some trace of body covering - fur for pterosaurs, feathers for 
>> _Archaeopteryx_.
>> > 
>
>Yes, and further, the point I wished to make is that as far as I know, it
>is not an "almost" certainty that Velociraptors had fur or feathers.  Nor
>is it REAL simple to know things like that.  If this list fills an
>educational role in any way, I think it's wrong to spread speculative ideas
>as though we really know things that we don't know.  People could "learn" a
>whole lot of hooey that way.

   It's a real shame that this thread has come up while so many people are
at SVP.  I know Dr. Holtz would have a few things to say about this.  Rather
than making a clumsy attempt at explaining this on my own, I suggest reading
"What is parsimony, anyway" in my Journal at http://www.dinosauria.com  The
"hypothesis examples" are almost verbatim from Dr. Holtz.

   I should also add for the benefit of the person who was talking about
bumpy, pebbly skin impressions being found for _Velociraptor_ (which is not
true) and other theropods:  the impressions that are known are of large
animals (is an elephant or hippo a good approximation of the hairiness of
all mammals?) and, as Dr. Holtz once pointed out, the skin impressions were
not preserved in sediments that would have preserved feathers (or their
impressions) had they been present.

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