Dinosaurs May Have Shaken Their Tail Feathers to Woo Mates [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: Wired



Dinosaurs May Have Shaken Their Tail Feathers to Woo Mates

BY NADIA DRAKE 01.04.13 9:30 AM

Visiting Mongolia during the Cretaceous might have revealed a variety of birdlike dinosaurs strutting their stuff and using a spectacular fan of tail feathers to woo potential mates.

The birdlike dinosaurs are oviraptors, so named because their discoverer suspected the first specimen had been fossilized in the act of stealing eggs from a Protoceratops nest. Feathered but flightless, oviraptors had strong, flexible tails tipped with a spray of multicolored feathers, a team of paleontologists reported Jan. 4 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Studying oviraptor fossils, as well as present-day birds and reptiles, and digitally recreating an oviraptor tail helped the team conclude that, like peacocks and turkeys, oviraptors shook their tail feathers to attract mates.

“You have, I think, a tail that is specifically adapted to flaunt its feathers,” said Scott Persons, study author and doctoral student at the University of Alberta. “Swish it from side to side, show off the tail, strike a sinuous pose and hold it.”

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Read more: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/dinosaur-courtship-feathers/