Daily Dino Fact: Shake a Tail Feather!
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Looks like he needs to mow his tail!
Happy Monday, dinos! You know I like my ceratopsians, so here’s another question about them:
Did ceratopsians have tail feathers? – Regisaurus
Surprisingly enough, the answer appears to be yes – sort of! In 2002 paleontologists announced that they had discovered a specimen of Psittacosaurus with a series of hollow, tubular bristles arranged in a row down the top of its tail, in a plume formation. Psittacosaurus (Greek for “parrot lizard”) was a small ceratopsian from the Early Cretaceous Period, one of the earliest ceratopsians.
On a related note, you may remember from Pterry’s True Science last month that we now have evidence of dino color from the recent discovery of a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx that was found in China. They found a reddish-orange color in tail feathers of one of the specimens.
Thanks for that interesting question, Regisaurus! I learned something new! Keep ‘em coming!
~ModCeno
