'Fuzzy' dinosaur fossils found

BEIJING, March 19 (UPI) -- Fossils found in China indicate dinosaurs may have started developing feathers much earlier than previously thought, researchers say.

The dinosaur, dubbed Tianyulong confuciusi, had "protofeathers" or "dino-fuzz" that were the precursors of modern feathers. It lived about 200 million years ago, or about 50 million years earlier than previously discovered feathered dinosaurs, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Hai-Lu You, a researcher at the Insitute of Geology in Beijing who was part of the team that discovered the fossil, said the function of the fuzzy feathers was probably display, as well as to keep the body warm.

The researchers, whose findings were published in the journal Nature, learned the filaments on the base of the dinosaur's tail were extremely long and may have been colored.

"The world of dinosaurs would (have been) more colorful and active than we previously imagined," he said.

The newly discovered dinosaur is from the Ornithischia group, previously believed to have been all scaled animals, not part of the Saurischia family thought to be the ancestors of modern birds.

Ohio University paleontologist Lawrence Witmer says means researchers must rethink the whole issue of dinosaurs' outer layer.

"Maybe all dinosaurs, even the predominantly scaled ones, had fuzzy parts," Witmer said.

"And if they were covered in a fuzzy coat, what does that tell us about their physiology? Perhaps they were warm-blooded.

"We now need to think completely differently about the evidence we already have."