‘DINO SKIN FOUND BUT NO FEATHERS, according to University of New England News 10 September 2021, also reported in Science Alert and SciTech Daily 13 September 2021, and Cretaceous Research, published online 13 August 2021 doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104994. Palaeontologists Phil Bell of University of New England (UNE) Australia, and Christophe Hendrickx of Unidad Ejecutora Lillo in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina have studied fossilised skin from a large theropod dinosaur named Carnotaurus sastrei, which included six pieces from the shoulder, chest, tail and neck The skin was covered in scales of various sizes and shapes. Christophe Hendrickx described them as “large and randomly distributed conical studs surrounded by a network of small elongated, diamond-shaped or subcircular scales”. The cone shaped scales varied from 2 to 6.5cm in diameter. Researchers suggest the knobbly skin scales would have been useful for thermoregulation, as they gave the skin a large surface area for losing heat and preventing overheating. According to UNE News the skin “was entirely scaly, with no evidence of feathers”.

Links: Science Alert, SciTech Daily, UNE

ED. COM. These findings fit with all known specimens of actual fossilised dinosaur skin. They are covered in scales which vary in size, shape and thickness, but are typical of scales found in living reptiles. The suggestion that thick raised scales were used for thermoregulation is a good one, as living reptiles use scales this way. Reptiles are “cold blooded”, so thick knobby scales can be used to absorb heat when the animal needs to raise its body temperature and lose heat when they get too hot. Therefore, the scales are an example of good design, well integrated into the whole body function.

Once again, evolutionists are disappointed there are no feathers. (See our previous report Featherless Dinosaur Surprise here.) We predict that no dino feathers will be found, since all feathers are found in the fossil record, are either isolated specimens, unattached to anything, or they are attached to a fossil bird. There are some feathered creatures in the fossil record (e.g. Archaeopteryx, Microraptor) that are different to living birds, but these were not dinosaurs. They are now extinct and a reminder there was once a greater variety of birds than exists now – a sign that the world is going downhill and losing complexity, not evolving upwards.’https://mailchi.mp/creationresearch.net/enews-20210929?e=ce21bf0337 https://creationresearch.net/