Inhibiting Shh gene
Feathers are complex skin structures, and their evolutionary beginnings are still a subject of scientific debate.
Scientific evidence points to feathers evolving from simple, tubular proto-feathers in some dinosaurs roughly 200 million years ago. There’s ongoing debate about whether these proto-feathers existed even earlier, around 240 million years ago, in the shared ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Proto-feathers were simple cylindrical filaments that represent the initial stage in feather evolution. These primitive structures lacked advanced features such as barbs, barbules, and follicles.
Nevertheless, these feathers were a key evolutionary step, initially serving for warmth and display. Over millions of years, natural selection refined these structures, leading to the complex feathers that enabled flight.