In apparent exasperation as to the continuing and instant claims of missing-link-dino-birds Larry Martin (University of Kansas biologist) wrote, "You have to put this in perspective. To people who wrote the paper, the chicken would be a feathered dinosaur." [Ji Qiang's paper in Nature about Caudipteryx zoui. Martin was quoted in Kenneth Chang's article, "A Feathered Dinosaur"]
As for Gigantoraptor, just as a pig's tooth was illustrated as Nebraska Man (and his life partner) Gigantoraptor, which is an actual fossil, was imaginatively illustrated in models and paintings:
"Gigantoraptor had long arms, bird-like legs, a toothless jaw, and probably a beak. There are no clear signs as to whether it was feathered. However, judging from its close affinity to other dinosaurs known to have been feathered, Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing speculates that it was."
David Cyranoski, "Giant bird-like dinosaur found - Chinese researchers unearth a surprising find," Nature News, June 13, 2007 republished by BioEd Online - Biology Teacher Resources from Baylor College of Medicine
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