Monday, April 06, 2009

Feathered Dinosaurs

I just did a Google image search on feathered dinosaurs. I was looking for a specific image to copy here and found it. But I noticed most of the images showed the dinosaurs with mouths open so their teeth were visible and in aggressive poses, leaping, their claws spread. Granted, they were mostly predators. But if you look at contemporary predators -- lions and komodo dragons and so on -- most of the time they are lying down or sauntering around with their mouths closed. It takes a lot of energy to leap around with your mouth open and your teeth showing. You are only going to do it while actually hunting.

Birds hunt by soaring or sitting in a tree or standing still and watching. The watching is the important part. Then, when they see something that looks edible, they explode into action. A heron drives its beak down into the water. A hawk or eagle dives.

We need more images of dinosaurs resting or walking at a reasonable pace or watching, their heads tilted. The bigger predators probably acted more like lions. But the little guys probably hunted like birds.

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