SGU 5 x 5 on T. rex Collagen

While rifling through the Skeptics Guide to the Universe archive, I ran across one of their 5 x 5 podcasts dealing with the dinosaur-bird link. The episode briefly summarizes the study which analyzed the amino acid sequence in collagen found in a T. rex femur and found similarities to that of chickens.

The SGU does cover dinosaur news pretty often, owing to the fact that dinosaurs are really cool and deserve of the attention. This episode contains one of my favorite SGU quotes yet. The show as a mild running feud among the hosts about which are badder, birds or monkeys. To avoid the appearance that the bird-dinosaur link might tip the scales in birds' favor, Rebecca Watson clarifies that it "...just means that some distant cousins of birds might have, at one time, been able to kick a monkey's butt."

Good quote, but I have to disagree. She's obviously never had to look one of these gnarly dudes in the eye.

Image by Malnino, via Flickr.

It's a Phillipine, or "Monkey-Eating" Eagle. Birds win, end of discussion.

UPDATED 2/10/10: Still working my way up through old SGU episodes, and came across number 53. Indeed, a listener has brought the Monkey-Eating Eagle to the attention of Rebecca and the late Perry deAngelis. Typical of birdists, they reject it out of hand. Disgusting.