Current Events > Pterosaurs were furry like bats : feathers older than believed

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/science-environment-46572782

Two exceptionally well preserved fossils give a new picture of the pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

Scientists believe the creatures may have had feathers, and looked something like brown bats with fuzzy wings.

The surprise discovery suggests feathers evolved not in birds, nor dinosaurs, but in more distant times.

Pterosaurs were the closest relatives of dinosaurs, sharing a common ancestor about 250 million years ago.

"We would suggest - tentatively - that it would be worth considering that feathers originated much earlier than we thought," Prof Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol, told BBC News

The researchers found that the pterosaurs had four different kinds of covering, including fuzzy, fur over most of their body; and, on parts of the head and wings, three types of fibres similar to modern feathers.

The fluff and feathers are likely to have been important in heat regulation and aerodynamics.

"These structures on the pterosaur make it look a bit like a fruit bat, or something like that, a fuzzy hairy creature," said Prof Benton, who worked on the discovery with colleagues in China.

Hmm
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Come on CE, this is interesting stuff.

Or do you dispute this?

Wow age of dinos was cray

Giant chickens and giant bats
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