It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(visit the link for the full news article)
For feathered dinosaurs, it appears that fashion came before function. A new study of a dinosaur fossil found in northeast China has revealed that the dinosaur, Beipiaosaurus, not only had the soft downy feathers that have been spotted in other fossils, it also had a more primitive type of feather that appears to have been used only for peacock-like displays.
...The display feathers could have been used in mating rituals, Xu says, or in fights to defend territory.