Dinosaur Fuzz Is Not Protofeathers

Trying to prove some
dinosaurs evolved into
birds still doesn’t fly

 

by Jerry Bergman, PhD

Despite major problems showing dinosaur evolution into birds, the dinosaur theory is still being supported by most evolutionists. Thus, assuming this theory is correct, scales must have evolved into feathers. The problem for evolution is described by the author of a new study by evolutionists at the University of Geneva led by Dr Michel Milinkovitch:

Feathers are among the most complex cutaneous appendages in the animal kingdom. While their evolutionary origin has been widely debated, paleontological discoveries and developmental biology studies suggest that feathers evolved from simple structures known as proto-feathers. These primitive structures, composed of a single tubular filament, emerged around 200 million years ago in certain dinosaurs. Paleontologists continue to discuss the possibility of their even earlier presence in the common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs (the first flying vertebrates with membranous wings) around 240 million years ago.[1]

Evolutionists refer to the simple structures from which they believe feathers evolved as “protofeathers”. It’s like referring to dinosaurs as “proto-birds.” They postulate that the simple filaments were “the first key step in feather evolution.”[2] Two evolutionary scientists deactivated a key chicken gene which caused distorted feathers to grow in the bird that resembled dinosaur filaments. They used this case of “devolution” as an argument for evolution!

The chicken’s genetic information causes production of modern feathers. Consequently, the theorists’ attempt to claim their reverse evolution experiment illustrates how filaments evolved into feathers.[3] Specifically, they stimulated the so-called Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) genetic pathway, a key regulator of embryonic development and an important mediator of feather outgrowth and branching. Intravenous injection of a potent Sonic Hedgehog pathway inhibitor called sonidegib at embryonic day nine, temporarily arrests morphogenesis. This inhibitor resulted in unbranched and non-invaginated feather buds that were similar to protofeathers. The researchers then announced the sweeping conclusion that they have “evidence for the role of the Shh pathway in mediating feather morphogenesis and confirmed its role in the evolutionary emergence and diversification of feathers.[4] In actuality, all that they have demonstrated is that preventing the proper development of feathers results in unbranched and non-invaginated feather buds that were in some ways similar to protofeathers.[5]

Do the So-Called Protofeathers Have a Function?

Protofeathers are not feathers. “[T]he ontogeny of feathers, which begin as hollow tube-like filaments, with the feather forming from the disintegration and unfolding of the tube‘s wall, [and] not as elongations of flat scales”[6] as evolutionists claim. The main question is, what is the function of the simple, cylindrical fiber filaments, the so-called protofeathers? (See my previous article about feathers from 7 March 2025.)

Dr Milinkovitch defines these filaments by explaining what they are not, namely, they lack feather barbs and barbules as well as follicles and the invagination at their base which fastens them into the bird’s body. The “branched filaments were 2 cm (0.8 inch) long and resembled a coat of hair.”[7]

Given this resemblance, it is more logical to reason that the “dinofuzz” existing on dinosaurs is evidence that dinosaurs were evolving into mammals, and not birds. Hair is one of the chief characteristics that distinguish mammals from other vertebrates.[8] Thus the “dinofuzz” could just as well be labeled as  protohairs.

Biochemical Analysis of the “Dinofuzz”

To determine if the “dinofuzz” is evidence of protofeathers, the collagen protein in the dinofuzz was the subject of numerous biochemical analysis. Harry F. Sanders III, in a detailed analysis of the literature on the filament chemistry, published in the Answers Research Journal, concluded about the dinofuzz composition that

No one knows for certain. What we have now are competing theories about dinosaur origins being imposed on filaments in the rock record of unknown composition. … even if the chemical tests were to be performed, they would not answer the ultimate question: is it a feather? The biochemical composition of a feather is not uniform, so simply looking for beta-keratin to the exclusion of all else will not work…. Therefore, we cannot empirically determine if it is a feather, a degraded scale, or subcutaneous tissue.[9]

Sanders added, “Since dinofuzz is found on organisms that could not have been feathered, like Mosasaurs, then it is reasonable to question whether the land organisms where dinofuzz is found were feathered also.”[10]

The Function of the “Dinofuzz”

If “dinofuzz” has a function, evolution must explain why it lost that function and gained another, very different function. The problem with determining the function of the dinofuzz is that several strong possibilities exist. The most likely function, as is true of hair on mammals today, was to serve as an insulating layer to help the dinosaurs to stay warm. The fur traps air between the outside environment and the animal’s epidermis. Trapped air is one of the most effective ways of insulating the body in order to reduce heat loss. Another important use, as is true of body hair today, is for display, potentially in courtship rituals, or for signaling within the animals social group.[11]

Animals raise their hair, also known as hackles, by piloerection. Piloerection is also a defensive mechanism to cause the mammal to appear larger and more intimidating in order to deter predators or sexual rivals.[12] Piloerection is often triggered by fear, excitement, or sexual arousal. Another possibility is that the hair fibers could have played a role in sensory perception, such as deflection of the hair fiber that occurs with a light breeze or touch that directly activates the sensory neurons surrounding the hair follicle. This facilitates transmission of mechanical information, such as the role that whiskers play in cats today. Likely, the dinofuzz served several of these functions as fur does on modern mammals.

Conclusions

In spite of numerous studies to support scale-to-feather evolution, all these studies have fallen far short of their goal. Thus, although the evolutionary origin of bird feathers is widely debated, paleontological discoveries and developmental biology studies have not documented that fibers have, or could have, evolved into feathers. Paleontologists admit that they can only suggest that feathers evolved from simple hair-like structures, presumptively called protofeathers. This is why, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, that feathers did not evolve directly from reptilian scales, as once was assumed. The current hypotheses is that feathers evolved by an epidermal invagination that occurred around the dermal papilla.[13]

This problem with the current scales-to-feathers evolution was published as early as 2002. Prum and Brush reviewed the developmental theory which “proposes that feathers evolved through a series of evolutionary novelties in developmental mechanisms of the follicle and feather germ.”[14] Another zoologist added,

Feathers are complex and novel evolutionary structures. They did not evolve from scales as once thought. Current hypotheses propose that they evolved through an invagination of the epidermis around the base of the derma papilla, followed  by increasing complexity of form and function.[15]

Summary

After two decades of work on the evolution of scales into feathers, evolutionists have failed to propose a viable theory. The newest proposal (protofeathers evolving into feathers), amounts to one more just-so story.

References

[1] Milinkovitch, Michel, “From dinosaurs to birds: The origins of feather formation,”  https://www.unige.ch/medias/application/files/2517/4194/0116/From_dinosaurs_to_birds_The_origins_of_feather_formation.pdf, 17 March 2025. Italics added.

[2] “From dinosaurs to birds: the origins of feather formation,” AAAS and EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1077117, 20 March 2025.

[3] Milinkovitch, 2025.

[4] Milinkovitch, 2025

[5] Milinkovitch, 2025

[6] Bechly, Günter, “Fossil Friday: A dinosaur feather and an overhyped new study on the origin of feathers,” Evolution News & Science Today, https://evolutionnews.org/2023/05/fossil-friday-a-dinosaur-feather-and-an-overhyped-new-study-on-the-origin-of-feathers/, 26 May 2023.

[7] Wedel, Mathew. “Dilong, dinosaur genus,” https://www.britannica.com/animal/Dilong-dinosaur#ref1108115, revised and updated 20 April 2022.

[8] Yochem, Pamela K., and Brent S. Stewart, “Hair and fur,” Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 2^nd edition pp 529-530.

[9] Sanders, III, Harry F., “Biochemistry of dinofuzz: Feathers, filaments, fuzz, or folly? Answers Research Journal 18:125-131,  https://assets.answersresearchjournal.org/doc/v18/biochemistry_dinofuzz_feathers_filaments_fuzz_folly.pdf

[10] Sanders, 2025.

[11] Rogers, Lesley Joy, and Gisela Kaplan, Songs, Roars, and Rituals: Communication in Birds, Mammals, and Other Animals,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.

[12] Estes, Richard D., The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, and Primates, Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT, 1999.

[13] Gill, Frank. 2025. The origin of feathers. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/bird-animal/The-origin-of-feathers

[14] Prum, Richard, and Alan Brush, “The evolutionary origin and diversification of feathers,” The Quarterly Review of Biology 77(3), https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/341993, September 2002.

[15] Willis, Rudy, Principles of Systematic Zoology, Ed Tech Press, London, UK, p. 75, 2020.

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Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,900 publications in 14 languages and 40 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,800 college libraries in 27 countries. So far over 80,000 copies of the 60 books and monographs that he has authored or co-authored are in print. For more articles by Dr Bergman, see his Author Profile.