> It's now believed that many dinosaurs had which feature?And the answer: feathers. An artist's rendition of a dinosaur with feather-like extensionsIn recent years,one of the most surprising developments in paleontology has been the discoverythat, like modern-day birds, many dinosaurs had feathers. Scientists believe thefeathers evolved from reptile-like scales, and that they were initially used tokeep the dinosaurs warm.Though an image of a furry T-rex or Brachiosaurus is a bit jarring, recentstudies have revealed that the idea might be closer to reality than previouslythought. A group of two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods seems tohave evaded the great dino extinction event 66 million years ago by developingfeathers, bigger and more adaptable brains, and smaller, more airborne forms. However, this idea isn't quite new. Scientists have been commenting on thedistinct birdlike appearance of dinosaur fossils and footprints for centuries.Modern technological advances have resurrected the similarities between birdsand theropod dinosaurs nearly a century later.Aside from feathers, researchers have found dinosaurs that display a host ofother bird-like traits. For example, recent scans of the insides of dinosaurskulls show that the parts of the brain that control sight, flight, andhigh-level memory functions were every bit as expanded in theropods as they arein living birds. And researchers have found fossils of small predatorsprotecting their nests of eggs, as well as large dinos with the same hollow bonestructures that make birds light enough to fly.However, the search for answers is far from over. Check out the video below foran in depth explanation of what we know about these massive (feathered)creatures.