Dinosaurs are the extinct relatives of birds that roamed the lands and seas of ancient Earth. They first appeared around 240 ...

In the meantime, other scientists sought to illuminate the origin of feathers by examining the scales of modern reptiles, the closest living relatives of birds. Both scales and feathers are flat.

Other dinosaurs, however, had more reptile-like skin, or a mix of feathers and scales, which instead make it more possible that feathers evolved independently. Ultimately, there's still a lot of ...

Biologists have long known that feathers and hairs both start as structures called placodes. In reptiles, however, biologists had found distinct skin areas that yielded scales but no placodes.

“People were fighting about the fact that reptiles either lost it, or birds and mammals independently developed them,” Milinkovitch told The New York Times. “Now we are lucky enough to put this debate ...

Biofluorescent organisms are everywhere, from mushrooms to fish to reptiles and amphibians, but few birds have been identified as having glowing feathers. This is why biologist Rene Martin of the ...

It had feathered wings like living birds, but also had traits found in reptiles, such as teeth, claws and a long bony tail. Charles Darwin, who had published On the Origin of Species two years ...

Birds are warm-blooded animals with feathers, wings ... blackbirds, ducks and owls. Reptiles are animals that have dry, scaly skin and are cold-blooded. This means their body temperature changes ...

or did feathers evolve multiple times in the group? Are they exclusive to birds and their closest relatives, or are they more widespread across the reptile family tree? At the moment, the jury’s still ...