• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Feathered dinosaur tail found trapped in amber

Status
Not open for further replies.
I know. Doesn't matter. They don't look like the freaky scary monsters people want dinosaurs to be.

I think a big part of the problem a lot of people have with feathers is that it grounds the dinos in reality. Our reality. It makes them look like something you could easily imagine, instead of the fantastic beasts that comes right out of fantasy.

Takes some of the mystery away. This is just me guessing though.

Personally, I like feathers, but I get why people don't. And a picture of a cassowary will never be as scary as a scaly teeth demon from hell.
That doesn't really make sense though. The term dinosaur itself means "terrible lizard." Either way they're grounded in reality--either they're gigantic lizards, or they're gigantic birds. Don't get how either depiction, evidence aside, is supposed to be more grounded in reality or fantasy than the other.

If anything, it has to do with how, especially in the modern age, when people think birds they think poultry and "food" whereas lizards and reptiles are less commonly eaten and because of that giant lizards, giant versions of things that aren't food, are cooler than what amounts to "giant food" in people's heads. This seems especially evident when the go-to comparisons in this whole feather discussion are not just chickens and turkeys, but domesticated chickens and turkeys in particular, with stuff like owls, hawks, eagles, etc rarely getting brought up. Nor is the relative intelligence of many birds, such as parrots and particularly crows/ravens and other such stuff that make birds pretty damn awesome such as how fucking insane hummingbirds are and how much energy they burn to beat their wings that fast and the effects that has on their behavior. Always the poultry comparisons--a large part of the relative reality of both birds and lizards gets ignored in these discussions, so it can't be that.

Of course, that's silly because in truth there are cool and not-so-cool members of each group regardless and neither should be so easily reduced. Komodo dragons are cooler than many variants of birds, particularly poultry, but birds of prey are scarier than most lizards. But whatever. I just go where the science takes me.
 

Gravidee

Member
I'll never understand why people would be against the idea of dinosaurs with feathers existing. When I was a kid, I thought it was really neat how new discoveries were being made about dinosaurs, and I continue to be fascinated that they still are today.

Were there deniers when it turned out that dinosaurs didn't turn out to look like their crystal palace interpretations?

img_6725.jpg

Or when it turned out they didn't stand straight up and drag their tails on the ground?


Seems some people don't care as long as they believe that their plastic toys and children's books are legitimized, huh?
 

.JayZii

Banned
Dragons: Beasts with scales and big teeth we know never exsisted.
Old school dino: Beasts with scales and big teeth we (back then) knew exsisted.
Feathered dino: A more dangerous looking bird we know exsisted.

Dinos used to be real life dragons in many ways. Now they are not. If you can't see why a lot of people want to hold on to the idea of there being such beasts walking around on this very planet, I don't really know what to tell you.
They're a fantasy to us either way, imagine them however you want. No need to deny scientific findings in order to say you like dinosaurs with scales more than dinosaurs with feathers. I'm sure there were quite a few that didn't have feathers; the aquatic/amphibious ones, for example.
 

YourMaster

Member
They're a fantasy to us either way, imagine them however you want. No need to deny scientific findings in order to say you like dinosaurs with scales more than dinosaurs with feathers. I'm sure there were quite a few that didn't have feathers; the aquatic/amphibious ones, for example.

Just like how penguins have lost their feathers you mean? ;-)
 
C

Contica

Unconfirmed Member
They're a fantasy to us either way, imagine them however you want. No need to deny scientific findings in order to say you like dinosaurs with scales more than dinosaurs with feathers. I'm sure there were quite a few that didn't have feathers; the aquatic/amphibious ones, for example.

I think dinosaurs with feathers are awesome. I just have no problem understanding why other people don't.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Dragons: Beasts with scales and big teeth we know never exsisted.
Old school dino: Beasts with scales and big teeth we (back then) knew exsisted.
Feathered dino: A more dangerous looking bird we know exsisted.

Dinos used to be real life dragons in many ways. Now they are not. If you can't see why a lot of people want to hold on to the idea of there being such beasts walking around on this very planet, I don't really know what to tell you.

I get the sentiment, I just feel like they're clinging on to this way too much. It makes me wonder how they "broke" with Santa.

Even Drogon has feathery scales if I'm not mistaken.

Depends on which version. "Dragon" itself is treated more specifically in certain circles, like people would lynch you for calling Skyrim dragons as "dragons" and not "wyverns".
 
Depends on which version. "Dragon" itself is treated more specifically in certain circles, like people would lynch you for calling Skyrim dragons as "dragons" and not "wyverns".

Didn't that cause a little stink among ASOIAF fans? When GRRM specified that his dragons have the arm-wing--which is consider a "wyvern" by many fantasy fans?
 

televator

Member
Dragons: Beasts with scales and big teeth we know never exsisted.
Old school dino: Beasts with scales and big teeth we (back then) knew exsisted.
Feathered dino: A more dangerous looking bird we know exsisted.

Dinos used to be real life dragons in many ways. Now they are not. If you can't see why a lot of people want to hold on to the idea of there being such beasts walking around on this very planet, I don't really know what to tell you.

Well turns out, at least some of those "old school dinos" didn't exist without feathers. So yeah, it's all the same as far as fantasy animals like dragons to imagine some naked dinosaurs. And not all dinos are birds - even the feathered ones. All birds are dinos, not the other way around.
 
C

Contica

Unconfirmed Member
Well turns out, at least some of those "old school dinos" didn't exist without feathers. So yeah, it's all the same as far as fantasy animals like dragons to imagine some naked dinosaurs. And not all dinos are birds - even the feathered ones. All birds are dinos, not the other way around.

I never said it was rational. I said I understand it. But it's not me you need to lecture on the most basic dinosaur facts.
 

televator

Member
Is acting like a climate denier supposed to be funny? The fact that many legitimately feel this way is goddamn depressing.

I see this as what are presumably grown ass people on the internet refusing to believe Santa isn't real or thinking it's cute to voice how disturbed they are by pretending. Either way they are legitimately upset by it and it's weird.
 
Depends on which version. "Dragon" itself is treated more specifically in certain circles, like people would lynch you for calling Skyrim dragons as "dragons" and not "wyverns".
God damn, don't people have better things to argue over?
Here's some (mostly extinct) giant birds. You can't tell me some of these guys don't look badass and scary:

comparison-past-present-giant-birds.jpg
2 and 5 are fucking glorious. Is this drawn to scale? Cause holy fuck these birds are big.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
God damn, don't people have better things to argue over?

you got dragons which are four limbs + wings
wyverns which have two limbs + wings (the arms and wings are merged)
drakes which are flightless dragons
wyrms which are serpentine dragons

and I think I forgot some
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom