I Know Dino Podcast: Kulindadromeus

Episode 12 is all about Kulindadromeus, a dinosaur the size of a turkey that was covered in feathers.

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In this episode, we discuss:

The dinosaur of the day: Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, which means “Kulinda River running dinosaur
Kulindadromeus was discovered in Zabaikalsky Krai, Siberia

It lived in the Jurassic, about 160 million years ago, near the Kulinda River
Kulindadromeuswas small, about the size of a turkey and only 5 feet long
It walked on two legs, had short arms, and had scales on its tail and shins and short bristles on its head and back

Kulindadromeus is an early ornithiscian (neoornithiscian) and it could run
The biggest discovery of Kulindadromeus were the fossil feathers. This is because Kulindadromeus is an herbivore, and the best example of a non-theropod with feathers
Paleontologist Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh said feathers probably existed in dinosaur’s common ancestor

Before Kulindadromeus the main dinosaurs found with feathers were theropods, the ancestors of modern birds
In China, at least five types of feathered dinosaurs have been discovered in the past 20 years. But they were mostly raptors
Pascal Godefroit, the lead author of the Kulindadromeus study, said scientists had foundornisthischians with bristles or quills, but it was unclear if they were real feathers

Not all dinosaurs had feathers (for example sauropods would have been too warm with them because they are too large; like how elephants don’t have hair
Smaller dinosaurs were probably covered in feathers, but when they grew up they may have lost them because they no longer needed the insulation
Kulindadromeus had feathers on its arms and legs. Each feather had six or seven filaments joined together, resembling down feathers of modern chickens

Maria McNamara, a researcher at the University College Cork said that feathers and hair are rarely preserved in fossils because scavengers tend to remove them from the dead animal
Because there were a lot of volcanoes in the area, the Kulindadromeus specimens probably died, fell to the bottom of the lake, then were covered in ash after an eruption. The ash preserved their feather imprints. This roundabout process of fossilizing softer material explains why fossils of feathers are so uncommon
Most of the Kulindadromeus bones found were of juveniles, which means they probably died separately from one another, and not in a mass catastrophic event

There are three types of feather fossils found: hair-like filaments that covered the trunk, neck, and head and looked like dino fuzz; groups of 6-7 downward facing filaments that originated from a base plate and were on the upper arm and thigh; and 6-7 ribbon-like structures on the upper and lower legs
Kulindadromeus did not use its feathers to fly, and it’s not clear what the feathers were for (may have been for insulation or display)
Kulindadromeus had scales as well as feathers. It had arched scales that formed rows on its tail

There are also three types of scales: overlapping hexagonal scales on the lower shins; small, round, non-overlapping scales on the hands, ankles, and feet; and rows of arched rectangular scales on the top of the tail
Kulindadromeus is a neornithiscia, a clade of the order ornithischia
Neornithischia was named in 1985

Neornithischians are united by having a thicker layer of asymmetrical enamel on the inside of their lower teeth. The teeth wore unevenly with chewing and developed sharp ridges that allowed neornithischians to break down tougher plant food than other dinosaurs
Fun fact: About half of all the known dinosaur species have been discovered in the past 20 years

I Know Dino Podcast: Kulindadromeus (Episode 12)