Rethinking Velociraptor

摘要

Remember those rapacious Velociraptors stalking children in the film Jurassic Park? It appears now that these prehistoric predators could use a costume change: they weren't leathery-skinned toughs after all! Scientists have known for years that many dinosaurs had feathers. Now, after a new look at some old bones, paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum have documented the presence of feathers in Velociraptor, one of the most iconic of dinosaurs and a close relative of birds.