8 Responses to Charlie gets his wings…

1. ancient anglers says:

   03/09/2012 at 00:10

   Beautiful work Luis, once again you have produced the excellence you always deliver

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2. Herman Diaz says:

   03/09/2012 at 02:33

   Even w/out true wing & tail feathers, this model was already the best Velociraptor model in existence AFAIK. Now it’s even better.

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3. Kilian Hekhuis says:

   03/09/2012 at 13:23

   Beautiful! Wish I had one (or knew how to make one)…

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4. Diggy says:

   04/09/2012 at 08:30

   Is there good evidence for the wing sizes of velociraptors?

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   • luisvrey says:

     04/09/2012 at 09:23

     Not with Velociraptor per se (we only have the quill knobs on the ulna of some specimens). But we have perfectly preserved maniraptorans (from Sinornithosaurus to Archaeopteyrx) that show us how the feather distribution might have been in Velociraptor. The length and shape is thus invented by me, but is based on what we know (namely the feathers range from longest around the second finger to smallest at the elbow). I also used ostriches as inspiration for the naked parts, although the arm >might< have been completely covered with only the claws protuding. I still see reconstructions with a fan of feathers from the wrist to the elbow. That is wrong. Hand has to be "in" even if the third fingers was probably free.

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     • diggy says:

       04/09/2012 at 09:30

       Amazing stuff. I love these new fluffy dinosaurs, but still trying to get used to them. For some reason, they don’t scare me like the old reptilian style dinos did.
5. luisvrey says:

   04/09/2012 at 12:27

   It is because the Dinosaur has been such an Iconic image… if you refer to one of my previous posts you will see how much the image of Dinosauria has changed in the last 150 years. That is a little too fast for the human mind that always wants comfort zones where to find refuge… besides we have been used to the term “dinosaur” as representative of enormous monsters that became obsolete and died out… that is media business, not real Palaeontology. We tend to forget that >mostvery small< . Palaeontology is changing vary fast, faster than we can assimilate sometimes. We are finally accepting that the small dinosaurs didn't fossilise as well and as frequently as those with gigantic bones, and on top of that: we are discovering hard evidence of their external integument, something that before was only guesswork. On the other hand the "scare" syndrome is obviously related to the sense of awe, the gigantic size of the animals, the reptilian=dragon reference, and the dramatic, dream-quality they provide to our childhood … but given the choice I'd rather be running from a Tyrannosaurs rex than from a Velociraptor any time… even if we are thinking now that T. rex was also feathered!

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   • diggy says:

     04/09/2012 at 15:56

     That’s a well thought out response. I think the other thing is that our media tends to cover things in fur to make them less scary (like kid’s characters and muppets and the like).

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