TPO 31

The professor states that fine lines in the found fossil be feathers for some strong reasons. She refutes all the critics states by passage against this idea by mentioning some points.

To begin with, the first critics states that the lines could be signs of skin decomposition. The professor opposes and she says that if the patterns were related to skin decomposition they should be found in other fossils of other animals. However, other buried animals well preserved because of volcanic ash.

Second, the passage says that the fine lines likely to be fossilized remain of frills, not feathers. In contrast, the professor mentions that they were signs of feathers according to the chemical aspect. She states that frills and feathers have a great difference in chemical composition. Feathers are made from kind of protein which was found in the fossils. That was a firm evidence for accepting feathers as a source of fine lines.

Finally, the professor rejects the last point of in the passage. The passage indicates that if the lines were feathers, the backbone and tail of the animal is useless. the professor illustrates a kind of bird to oppose the point. She adds the bird has long colorful feathers on the tail to attract other birds. As a result having colorful feathers is possible on tails as a useful part of the body for a dinosaur.