Religion & Law

Cool!

By John Pieret

Scientists have been able to deduce the colors sported by a crow-sized, non-flying dinosaur, Anchiornis huxleyi. The story of how they did it is really amazing and you should go and read the article. But I was, given my own interests, interested in this:

So why would an earthbound dinosaur need feathers, particularly multi-colored ones? A likely reason, the team concludes, is to attract mates. Other possibilities are to warn away predators or rivals, to startle and flush out prey, to trap heat and keep their small bodies warm, and to prevent wear (melanin seems to toughen feather tips). ...

If the researchers can find other samples, Vinther said it should be possible to test the mate-attraction idea, since there should be color differences between males and females, as there are in modern birds.

That would help scientists counter a vexing argument from the supporters of intelligent design.

ID advocates insist that the incremental changes that feathers underwent for tens of millions of years ? from the stubby, undifferentiated bristles of some dinosaurs to the highly complex feathers of modern birds ? make no sense individually without the driving purpose of flight, presumably conceived by God.

"Darwin struggled with this," Hill said. "How do you get through all the intermediate steps to suddenly make [feathers] a tool for flight."

Mate selection provides the rationale for the changes, Hill said.

"Sexual selection can drive all sorts of crazy traits that aren't really that functional for getting food and surviving," he said. "If sexual selection drove the evolution of those long, elaborate plumes to be just basically palettes for color, then all of a sudden you're pre-adapted for flight. It all makes sense all of a sudden."

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).