One mean chicken

Nothing in the news really excites me this morning but this caught my eye.

Vicious dinosaur Velociraptor was feathered fiend

The vicious little dinosaur Velociraptor was a feathered fiend, according to scientists who found evidence of quills on this well-known meat-eater's forearm.

In research published on Thursday, paleontologists said a forearm bone of Velociraptor found in Mongolia's desolate Gobi desert retained structures, or quill knobs, where a series of feathers were anchored to the bone with ligaments.

No actual fossils of the feathers were found, but the researchers said quill knobs would not exist without feathers. They are present in many bird species alive today.

The researchers said the discovery is a further indication that many carnivorous dinosaurs, and not just the very smallest, possessed feathers. They added that the presence of feathers, which among other qualities provide insulation, was another sign that these may have been warm-blooded animals.

I have spent time rehabilitating predatory birds - hawks and owls. If you have ever seen a coopers hawk kill and devour a small bird or a red-tail hawk kill and eat a small mammal you can believe they are related to the vicious Velociraptor.