Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds

Natural History, Dec, 2008 by Laurence A. Marschall

Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds

by John Long and Peter Schouten

Oxford University Press, 2008; $39.95

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Had humans lived in the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million years ago, they might have celebrated the winter holidays by dining on roast Avimimus portentosus. Although Avimimus--a dinosaur almost five feet in length--might have been a tad too large to fit in a standard-size oven, the creature bears an undeniable family resemblance to a Thanksgiving turkey. Seeing it, or any of the more than seventy other species illustrated in this book, makes it clear why paleontologists regard the feathered dinosaurs as the true ancestors of modern birds.

Because of the petrification and fragmentary state of most dinosaur remains, we can only imagine what those pioneering birds looked like in life, particularly in matters of feather configuration and coloration. Still, the hard data of paleontology blends with inference from observations of present-day bird species to create plausible plumage and likely poses. We will never see a live Epidendrosaurus ningchengensis, a small dinosaur that was one of the first to climb trees, or a Microraptor gui, which sported not two but four wings. But with this handsome field guide you can spend an afternoon happily "proto-birding," as it were, without leaving your living room.

LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL is W.K.T. Sahm Professor of Physics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, and director of Project CLEA, which produces widely used simulation software for education in astronomy.