preparation. Some of these were damaged during preparation though. The EBFFs differ from other feather types in that they consist of a single, unbranched filament. Most other primitive feathered dinosaurs have down-like feathers made up of two or more filaments branching out from a common base or along a central shaft. The EBFFs of Beipiaosaurus are also much longer than other primitive feather types, measuring about long, roughly half the length of the neck. In Sinosauropteryx, the longest feathers are only about 15% of the neck length. The EBFFs of Beipiaosaurus are also unusually broad, up to wide in the holotype. The broadest feathers of Sinosauropteryx are only wide, and only slightly wider in larger forms such as Dilong. Additionally, where most primitive feather types are circular in cross section, EBFFs appear to be oval-shaped. None of the preserved EBFFs were curved or bent beyond a broad arc in either specimen, indicating that they were fairly stiff. They were probably hollow, at least at the base. In 2009 during an interview at Live Science, Xu stated: "Both are definitely not for flight, inferring the function of some structures of extinct animals would be very difficult, and in this case, we are not quite sure whether these feathers are for display or some other functions." He speculated that the finer feathers served as an insulatory coat and that the larger feathers were ornamental, perhaps for social interactions such as mating or communication. Li et al. 2014 compared the color and shape of the melanosomes in 181 extant animal specimens, 13 fossil specimens (including Beipiaosaurus) and previous data about the melanosome diversity using scanning electron microscopes. They found that color in dinosaurs seem to be slightly connected with their physiology. While some species of living reptiles (lizards or crocodiles, which are ectothermic) have less diversity in the shape of melanosomes and darker color ranges, some maniraptorans, birds and mammals (which are endothermic) have an increased diversity of melanosome shapes and more vivid colors. The examined specimen of Beipaosaurus, BMNHC PH000911, preserves feather impressions which are located in the neck area. These are filamentous/sparse in structure and the sampled melanosomes were sphere-shaped and inferred to had a brownish colouration like those in modern reptiles which fall within the range of dark brownish colourations. Jianchangosaurus is another primitive therizinosaur taxon known from the same formation that was found with impressions of a series of