My banjo teacher, Bob, sent me a copy of National Geographic’s February issue.
There’s an article in it about dinosaur feathers. Bob probably thinks I could put its pages to better use than the pages of sheet music he gives me, which I mangle.
He’s right. The article is made for bird watchers.
Last September, I wrote “A kick in the Jurassic.” It resulted from my seeing a Nova TV show reporting new evidence about birds being evolved dinosaurs.
Not evolved from dinosaurs. Evolved dinosaurs.
I liked hearing that these monsters from time-travel adventure might’ve had feathers. And we’ve been wrong to think of them as reptilian looking.
Now, Nova’s initial explorations into this subject have been supported and updated by some detailed reporting in National Geographic.
The article shows dinosaurs with feathers. There are fossil photos, too, and their meaning is explained. A gatefold reveals the family tree of dinosaurs and birds, and dinosaur-birds. It’s almost like a field guide. Good illustrations.
The science is pretty clear: there were dinosaurs that looked like gigantic walking, stomping, roaring birds. Lots of colors, too. Like I said, you could use it as a Jurassic field guide.
The old view of dinosaurs as oversized lizard-oids, might have been plain wrong. Spielberg probably shouldn’t have had his stars running around naked.
If these large feathered animals morphed into pint-sized sapsuckers, bustards, gnatcatchers and turkeys, cool. Saber tooth tigers the size of humvees gave way to cougars. Sloths the size of elephants became sloths the size of raccoons. Evolution goes where it wants. T-Rex is an Emu.
If you doubt this connection between birds and dinosaurs, just get up close to the next Great Blue Heron you see. Look into its eyes.
The killing grounds of early earth will stare back at you. Better not stand too close to that beak.
In 2007 I read that scientists had recovered some DNA from a Tyrannosaurus Rex bone and determined that its closest living relative may be the modern chicken. Kind of explains why a rooster is so confident that it can take on a featherless biped 20 or 30 times its weight.
The connection between dinosaurs and birds is so compelling. Up here in the way far eastern part of the country where I watch and count birds I came by a painting of a great blue heron on the prowl so accurate and dinosaur-like I was stunned. I had to have it. Just as a reminder.
I worked with cassowary at a conservation breeding facility for rare and endangered species. They are just about as dinosaur as you’re going to get! Everything about them just screams prehistoric. And, yes, they do want kill you. Every. Day.