The tip of the feather

There is a vast majority of individuals and groups that are disappointed in the fact that a large amount of dinosaurs have recently been discovered to have feathers. The point being that they are less intimidating and look like overgrown chickens....Less scary I think is the term I have heard the most.

"For over 150 years, since scientific research began on dinosaurs in the early 1800s, dinosaurs were generally believed to be related to the reptile family; the word "dinosaur", coined in 1842 by paleontologist Richard Owen, comes from the Greek for "formidable lizard"."

Let me start off by saying, have you ever seen a Bald Eagle, Vulture, Condor, Hawk, Cassowary or Falcon? These birds have the ability to cause serious damage without having teeth, arms or size on their side.

I believe that a dinosaur can look just as intimidating or more so with feathers. Some of the latest paleo-art has shown us that, like the bald eagle, the shape of the eye socket of a lot of a lot of the predators were shaped and a slant. Kind of like an angry brow. Any combination of colors around an angry looking animals face will make it look enraged.

Feathers around the back of the neck and arms can make an animal look bigger and can even be used for camouflage. I don't know about you but I like to be able to see a predator and hope it stands out from its surroundings. Not blend into it.

The fact of the matter is that feathers are just an advanced stage of scales. The addition of feathers to the most powerful and vicious killing machines ever to have walked this planet is at least in my opinion even more terrifying.

Also, as far as scientists know, the only dinosaurs that were completely covered with feathers were the avian dinosaurs. Most of them no taller than the average persons knee. Predators like Utahraptor, Astroraptor, Deinonychus, Troodon and Velociraptor could be the acceptations to this. A few remains have been found of each of these predators with at the least primitive feather barbs along the tail and underbelly. Color proteins have been discovered in the last 15 years proving that these animals had a vast color spectrum. The recently discovered 1 foot tall Microraptor has been found to have black feathers covering its entire body while shades of red and brown have been found in the fossil feathers of the 6 foot tall Astroraptor.

The temperature regulation with the addition of feathers is a huge survival advantage. It allowed many dinosaurs to live in harsh climate condition in extreme cold and heat. The ability to cover your eggs with a warm feathered body helps to ensure the proper amount of incubation temperature with raised the number of their offspring's survival out of the egg.

One of the most exciting fossils recently discovered is a small predators tail encased in amber. Not only was this tail perfectly preserved but it is covered with both down and long feathers! I have attached an image below of the fossilized tail.

In conclusion I believe the addition of feathers to the anatomy of a dinosaur is not only beneficial and crucial to surviving in all corners of their ancient world but from a visual aspect could have made these animals a even more terrifying sight to behold. Even an animal Like T-Rex would have been impressive. I would have loved to see if a T-Rex's feathers on the back