Comments on: Microraptor – the four-winged dinosaur that ate birds

By: Jess Tauber

Jess Tauber — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:03:52 +0000

There is one other possibility re the finding of the bird bones within the ribcage- you have, no doubt, seen the movie ‘Alien’….

By: Noumenon

Noumenon — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:32:20 +0000

Actually, the whole feathered dinosaurs thing is a controversy over a human-developed taxonomy, and has nothing to do with whether one evolved from the other.

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:24:06 +0000

Reminds me of another fossil, from 2001, that also involved birds being eaten by something that may well have been a dinosaur (but in that case we don’t know if it actually was). This is memorable to me because I used it in the scientific trivia quiz I compiled a couple of years ago.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/03/05/253801.htm

I’m wondering how the ages of these fossils compare, and who currently holds the record for oldest known fossil of an avian lunch.

By: tall blue ape

tall blue ape — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:50:47 +0000

It’s like saying “Lions – the four legged mammal that ate Zebras”

By: tall blue ape

tall blue ape — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:41:39 +0000

My apologies, I meant no offense; snarkily is just how I write!

Yes, you made the distinction between avian and non-avian dinosaurs clear; but the piece does read as if Birds are a different ‘thing’ from dinosaurs; as opposed to merely a subset of dinosaurs. I was making more a commentary on how strict cladistics leads one to read even the title of the piece ‘Microraptor ate Birds’ as anachronistic… the line between Avialae and Aves remains blurry. If I saw a M. gui gliding overhead, my first thought would be ‘huh, weird bird’. But I’m well aware you know what’s up.

It’s affected me quite deeply, I know can’t even eat chicken without saying out loud “mmm, dinosaur!”

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:32:41 +0000

Of course, I actually address that in a footnote, but please don’t let what I write get in the way of your snark.

By: tall blue ape

tall blue ape — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:16:02 +0000

Mr. Yong does not seem to have been internalized the cladist mindset yet; he quaintly refers to birds as if they were somehow not dinosaurs…

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:46:35 +0000

All of the Jehol enanthiomithines lived in trees. Their legs and feet were clearly adapted for perching rather than running or swimming. If its prey lived among the branches, then that’s where Microraptor must have hunted. And since its prey was an adult, rather than a chick, it must also have been a fairly agile predator. “[The fossil] lends further support to interpretations that Microraptor gui was spending a substantial amount of time in the trees,” says O’Connor.

Others have already mentioned this and I’ll add my two cents. It is a bit of a leap to assume that the Microraptor must have hunted in the branches because it had a small bird in its stomach. Many small passerines that live in trees can be found feeding on the ground, and at times in large numbers. E.g. White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Fox Sparrows, Veerys, Hermit and Wood Thrushes, American Robins, and even Northern Flickers (‘woodpeckers’). Some of these are in the open, many are on the ground in the underbrush kicking up leaves. M. gui may indeed have spent a substantial amount of time in trees, but I would argue that the fossil does not lend further (or any) support to that interpretation.

On another note did the authors mention if M. gui possessed a gizzard? The eaten fossil seems a bit far back for a gizzard placement although it could have been passed from the gizzard to the stomach at that point–although I would have thought the gizzard would have broken the bones up more (maybe that is why there are only a few bones left).

By: Toos

Toos — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:51:09 +0000

In addition to MattK. About some more than a year ago I’ve seen a jackdaw murdering and eating a sparrow on the street, just by jumping [from some nearby small bushes] in the middle of a group of about 5 of them sitting there for their own lunch. So, even a modern predatorbird doesn’t always use flight.

By: Torbjorn Larsson, OM

Torbjorn Larsson, OM — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:16:18 +0000

It is not exactly rocket science to guess that “the Jehol enanthiomithines” refers to the Chinese forests, or to google and find out that it is more specifically a specific biota of a time and place.

But FWIW it would have saved some perusing to make it “the Jehol forests of China”.

Interesting article for an interested layman! Some of the claims seems overconfident (say, “must have hunted” instead of “likely have hunted” seeing that some perching birds may visit forest floors ADDED IN POSTING: What MattK said), but YMMV.