Feathered dinos may have been show-offs

Agroup of dinosaurs that roamed Alberta 75 million years ago showed their swagger with a fan of feathers in much the same way a modern-day peacock flashes its colourful tail, new research from an Edmonton-based paleontologist suggests.

“A lot of the most flamboyant characteristics of animals tend to be associated with display and dinosaurs are no exception,” said Scott Persons, a University of Alberta PhD candidate who led the research published Friday in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Persons studied the tails of oviraptors, a group of dinosaurs that had beaks and feathers. Previous research has shown some feathered dinosaurs used their plumage for insulation and flight. Oviraptors could not fly but Persons said their tail feathers were used in much the same way as a peacock.

“I like to imagine an oviraptor strutting its stuff and showing off its tail like a peacock or modernday turkey. You can think of it like a dinosaurian Vegas showgirl with feathers,” Persons said.

Oviraptors roamed parts of China, Mongolia and Alberta. Some of these dinosaurs were smaller than a turkey, while others were more than five metres in length. Previous research has shown other dinosaurs also possessed display structures, such as the small crests over the eyes of Tyrannosaurus rex, showing the animal had “sex on the brain,” Persons said.

In a study published last year, a University of Calgary paleontologist found another group of dinosaurs also may have sprouted feathers as a secondary sexual characteristic.

For Calgary Herald The feathered tails sported by a group of dinosaurs called oviraptors who roamed Alberta 75 million years ago were not used for flight or for insulation, but rather to attract mates, a new study suggests.