Sinosauropteryx had fossilized "fuzz" on some of its bones, which the Beijing researchers identified as protofeathers, or an early type of feather that may have evolved into full-fledged feathers in birds.
"The next day the
New York Times ran a cover story and since then, other media have popularized the idea of feathered dinosaurs and their direct link to birds when, in reality, no biological or structural science supports the claims," said Feduccia, who is a professor of ornithology and evolutionary biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Feduccia and his team analyzed the Chinese data and studied the structure and decomposition of collagen fibers in existing animals, such as snakes and lizards.
According to the new study, these fibers, once decomposed, resemble the "fuzz" on dinosaurs.
"The so-called protofeathers appear to us to be fossilized, flayed skin," he said.
He added that the Cretaceous dinosaurs from China existed around 25 million years after the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx, which lived about 150 million years ago.
"Archaeopteryx had a bird brain, wings, and feathers that appear to be virtually identical to those of modern birds, so it is preposterous to suggest early Cretaceous dinosaurs originated feathers and were the direct ancestors of birds because feathered birds already existed," Feduccia said.
He and his colleagues believe Velociraptor and other very bird-like microraptors that had feathers and are categorized as dinosaurs actually were flightless birds.
