scaffolding

A Timeline

1850s: Some scientists notice the connection between dinosaurs & birds and think birds might have evolved from dinosaurs, given similarity between Archaeopteryx and many dinosaurs, as well as between dinosaurs and living birds  

1960s: Deinonychus is discovered. Scientists starting to realize birds did evolve from dinosaurs; other ideas become fringe hypotheses 

1970s: More dinosaurs are discovered that point to dinosaur behavior being more like birds than reptiles 

1980s: Scientists begin using evolutionary relationships (ie, cladistics) to classify life, rather than Linnean Taxonomy (Kingdom-Phylum-Class etc.), especially for extinct creatures, because it really doesn’t apply to extinct life like, at all. Coelophysis, an early dinosaur, is speculatively depicted with feathers. Some very bird-like dinosaurs are debated on whether they are birds or dinosaurs. 

1993: Birds are straight-up called dinosaurs in the famous film “Jurassic Park,” which is one of the first pieces of media to depict dinosaurs as extremely birdlike; changes public perception of dinosaurs dramatically  

1996: Sinosauropteryx, the first feathered non-avian dinosaur, is revealed to the public. Birds determined to have evolved from dinosaurs, full stop; BANDits (birds-are-not-dinosaurs scientists) now a backwards, on-par-with creationists group. Since we classify dinosaurs based on their evolutionary relationships, we start calling birds dinosaurs, because they evolved from dinosaurs. 

1999: Sinornithosaurus, the first raptor (ie, cousin of Velociraptor) dinosaur found with feathers, is described. Many other feathered dinosaurs are described as well, from all over the group closely related to birds. The Walking With Dinosaurs landmark documentary series calls birds dinosaurs. 

2000: Microraptor, a raptor dinosaur with full wings on its arms and legs, is described 

2001: Velociraptor is given… “feathers” in Jurassic Park III. Velociraptor also portrayed as more bird-like than ever. When Dinosaurs Roamed America, another groundbreaking dinosaur documentary, shows all members of the group closely related to birds (except T. rex) with feathers, including Deinonychus, all over their bodies. Also calls birds dinosaurs. 

2002: A specimen of Psittacosaurus, a dinosaur about as far away from birds as you can get, is described with quills on its tail very similar to feathers 

2004: Dilong, a small relative of T. rex, is found with feathers and display structures like modern birds 

2007: Many feathered dinosaurs are now known from the group most closely related to birds. A specimen of Velociraptor with feather attachment sites on the arms for wing feathers is now known. Velociraptor now known to be definitely, no question, feathered 

2009: Tianyulong, another dinosaur from a group very far from birds, is found with fluffy quills covering all over its back 

2012: Feathered dinosaurs now coming out many times a year. Yutyrannus, a large and closer relative to T. rex, found with shaggy feathers all over its body 

2014: Kulindadromeus, another dinosaur from the group very far from birds, is named. It has fluffy covering like that of Sinosauropteryx all over its body, rather than quills. Feathers determined to be mostly likely ancestral to all dinosaurs and lost secondarily in larger species (especially if fluff known on closest relatives, pterosaurs, is also feathers - see below). 

2015: Zhenyuanlong, a close relative of Velociraptor the same size as Velociraptor, is found with extremely large wings. Raptor dinosaurs inferred to have large wing feathers unless anatomy indicates otherwise (such as having short wings). Jurassic World comes out, making dinosaurs less bird-like than in the original Jurassic Park - with lizard-like tails and behavior, and no feathers at all. Essentially, a huge step backwards. 

2018: Branched fluffy covering very similar to feathers described now on multiple pterosaurs, the group most closely related to dinosaurs (think Pterodactyls). Fluffy covering considered ancestral to all members of the Pterosaur-Dinosaur group, if not all animals more closely related to birds than to crocodilians. 

We have known birds are dinosaurs since before many people reading this were born - since before I was born. We have known dinosaurs had feathers since the mid-1990s. We have known Velociraptor was fluffy and had wings since the mid-2000s. This isn’t news. This isn’t up for debate. Please grow up. Thank you! 

My question is, how do they find out that these dinosaurs had feathers? They only find fossils. What advanced technology are they using?

The fossils have feather imprints. 

always have been

thank you

If I recall correctly, it was actually research for Jurassic Park that lead to a more widespread acceptance that birds were related/ descendants. Because when they asked scientists to help them model how they moved, everyone including the scientists went “wait. That looks like a bird”

see now my question is like….. Why wasn’t this more commonly told instead of so many depictions since then just being Big Weird Lizards because giant birds with claws and fangs fuck and would sell just as well as nude dinosaurs

Societal Biases

IE we are really invested in the narrative that humans Are The Ultimate Progression of Evolution, that evolution was always building to us, and that nature is favoring us as we speak

Part of that narrative is “dinosaurs went extinct because they were slow stupid reptiles; reptiles today are limited to all these small things because they LOST to us POWERFUL MAMMALS”

but the minute you realize dinosaurs didn’t go extinct, they just exist as birds, and birds are doing **better** than mammals evolutionarily speaking (significantly more species - also, there are way more species of nonavian reptile than there are of mammals too…)

then suddenly it’s clear nature is just the lottery, over and over and over again. Random chance, random chance. Humans are here as a Fluke, nothing more. We are an accident

And it’s a lot harder for accidents to justify milking the planet and its resources for all its worth than it is for The Natural Pinnacle of Evolution to do so, isn’t it?

they spent all day building mailboxes

just salmon things

do you think we're homie buddies in every universe?

Etho doodles in which I let my inner dinosaur nerd take over 😔 and also have no idea how to shade

Get it cause he's old and washed up haha... ok but actual raptor Etho hybrid justification below cut

Just in case someone needs to know how Zed, Impulse and Tango became friends, here's Tangos responses to that question:

go fish

i miss them more and more everyday

pesky dragon!

huge huge credit of the idea to @art-by-fate they made some sketches of WOF hermits and I absolutely fell in love with the idea and created an entire story and I have so many design ideas and now I have this account :D expect more dragons soon!

Scarring ref sheet for SIT <3

got forced to watcch bdubs ll pov on a date

They Gamin’

thats what i'm saying likee..,,

a random doodle of X from @theminecraftbee's fic this is about a stuffed bird. GO READ IT, IT'S SO GOOD AGDHHWJQHDV;gHJDKWEe)

design loosely inspired by @fateserpent8 (hope you don't mind the tag)

Etho of the slabs as Hiccup from httyd, from sketch to full design.

I tought that the addition of Hiccups flight suit as Ethos design was fitting for Etho as a long running minecraft player, who, even with the addition of elytras, still uses enderpearls to go around. A more technical approach to a flight suit (elytra) would fit him more.

happy birthday some video :)