Not A Normal Wednesday

Typically on Wednesday I go over some aspect of the skeleton that sticks out or something special about the people that discovered the fossil (Roberto Abel in this case) or the people that described it (Bonaparte and Novas) but seeing as how information on Abel is few and far between and Bonaparte and Novas have been discussed before I do not really want to rehash that information. The skull has few characteristics that have not been mentioned or previously highlighted also. It is truly too bad that the skull is the only bit that has been unearthed so far in relation to this rather large theropod. One thing that Abelisaurus has not gone through, so far as I am aware, is the feathering process under which almost all theropods now find themselves. I am as much for detailing the soft downy dinosaurs that have been discovered with downy elements as the next progressive person, but a part of my brain agrees with Mark Wildman's comment very much when it comes to feathering. While I certainly acknowledge that some theropods, and even some other dinosaurs outside the theropods, may have had feathering or quills or any other number of soft tissue adaptations which were not preserved, sometimes I simply prefer a scaly dinosaur. In respect to Abelisaurus I prefer this scaly dinosaur model. As I stated above, I have not seen a feathered Abelisaurus as yet, and I do not expect to see one unless there is evidence for it that arises in the future. There is a lot of talk right now about how to portray dinosaurs (feathered or not) and I do not want to get in the middle of that whole mess. I just wanted to mention that Abelisaurus is a scaly dinosaur at the moment and that it is beautifully portrayed as it is. Look at this guy and think about what he would look like feathered (I am using the original work by Jordan Mallon, not the updated versions subsequently placed on Wikipedia):