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The Loom
« Almost Human
Five Kingdoms »

Cousin to Pigeons

cousin
Jeremiah Drewel, a geology student at the University of Alaska writes, “This is my personal favorite Deinonychus!”

Carl: Deinonychus holds a special place in the history of paleontology. Its remains were first discovered in 1931 in Montana, but for decades they languished, unstudied, at the American Museum of Natural History. In the 1960s Yale paleontologist John Ostrom discovered a wealth of new fossils from the same species and began to contemplate what the animal was like in real life. At the time, dinosaurs were still widely considered to be sluggish scaly lumps. But Ostrom argued that Deinonychus was for more active, able to keep its stiffened tail straight out behind its body. He argued that they may have even been warm-blooded. Ostrom also noticed a number of similarities in Deinonychus’s skeleton and those of birds. He revived an old theory that birds are dinosaurs, and argued they were closely related to Deinonychus. It’s a connection now almost universally accepted by paleontologists.Deinonychus changed the way we see birds, but birds have also changed the way we see Deinonychus. Many relatives of Deinonychus–non-flying dinosaurs–show evidence of primitive feathers. Velociraptor, a close relative of Deinonychus, had what look like quill knobs on its bones. It’s plausible that Deinonychus itself was covered in feathers of some sort as well, which it might have used to attract mates. Depending on what paleontologists discover in years to come, Jeremiah may need to get re-inked.

Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.

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February 21st, 2008 10:19 AM Tags: biology tattoos, dinosaur tattoos
by Carl Zimmer in Science Tattoo Emporium | 28 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

28 Responses to “Cousin to Pigeons”

  1. 1.   M Says:
    March 20th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    The quality of work is spectacular! It almost tempts me to get a tattoo. Almost.

  2. 2.   Amy Says:
    March 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    WOW! Where did you get this done?!?!

  3. 3.   Josh Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    This is a truly excellent tattoo, and a subject close to my heart: Deinonychus was always one of my faves (that big toe claw!).

    I was disappointed that Jurassic Park chose to spotlight Velociraptor instead…

    Who is the tattoo artist?

  4. 4.   April Says:
    April 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    amazing!!!!

  5. 5.   Kat Fanton Says:
    April 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    Incredible.
    I am actually lost for words, having just been doing research for my next dinosauria tattoo and coming over this, made my day.

  6. 6.   Hapax Legomina Says:
    April 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    This is one of the most gorgeous tattoos I have ever seen. You have one of the best artists in the world. That’s simply incredible.

  7. 7.   karmelrio Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Beautiful depiction of the sunlight coming through the trees! Gorgeous work.

  8. 8.   Dennis Wakeley Says:
    May 19th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    That is just beautiful! What great craftmanship!

    I just loooove black & grey tattoos!

  9. 9.   Pamela Says:
    September 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    Please! Who is the artist and what shop are they based at? This is a phenomenal piece of art! I am looking for someone to do my next tattoo!

  10. 10.   regev Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 am

    who in the name of jesus is the artist?

  11. 11.   wdwyer Says:
    October 10th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    Incredible artwork! So, who is the artist?

  12. 12.   Levi Says:
    December 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Whoo did this tattoo , the name of the artist would be nice.

  13. 13.   Jeremiah Says:
    December 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    The artist is Reed Leslie at the Hole Look in Anchorage, AK

  14. 14.   carrot Says:
    February 13th, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    Well done, Reed Leslie. I usually don’t like shading but this is amazing.

  15. 15.   James Says:
    February 14th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    that is an amazing tat! honestly one of the best i have ever seen

  16. 16.   Jaja Says:
    February 18th, 2009 at 12:17 am

    Check out the jungle scene sleeve he did.

  17. 17.   Miss Jess Says:
    February 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    Holy smokes, that’s really beautiful. Thanks for sharing the artist’s name! Nicest piece of work I’ve seen in a loooooong time!

  18. 18.   Danilo Brazil Says:
    May 5th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    the most incredible tattoo and well done that I have ever seen! congratulations!

  19. 19.   J Says:
    July 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    That is seriously the best tattoo I have ever seen, congratulations.

  20. 20.   Chris Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    This really is a particularly beautiful piece of art.

  21. 21.   Vivian Says:
    November 6th, 2009 at 10:53 am

    Where are the feathers?

  22. 22.   Molly Says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 12:26 am

    I think I just fell in love.

  23. 23.   Jade Says:
    March 14th, 2010 at 2:15 am

    This is so awesome…Great artwork. The artist of this piece is phenomenal!

  24. 24.   Elizabeth Says:
    April 9th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    This is the most eye-catching amazing tattoo i have ever seen. I’m curious how many hours of work this took?

  25. 25.   Jeremiah Says:
    June 13th, 2010 at 8:53 pm

    about 18-20 hours. not continuous though. about 4 sessions.

  26. 26.   Kristen Says:
    July 13th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    This looks like an illustration from the book Dinotopia. I loved that book when I was younger, and still do. Beautiful!

  27. 27.   « FutureEmergency.com Says:
    August 27th, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    [...] Deinonychus (via Discover Magazine’s Science Tattoo Emporium) [...]

  28. 28.   A Living Archive of the Dead: Extinction Tattoos Photo Essay | test title Says:
    August 27th, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    [...] Deinonychus (via Discover Magazine’s Science Tattoo Emporium) [...]

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