Advantages Of Birds

There are numerous counts of evidence showing the processes of evolution and how species ultimately evolved over millions of years. One of the most compelling hypotheses behind evolution was presented by Charles Darwin with his study of the Galapagos Islands. His study showing the various different birds and their different evolutions they went through to be able to survive the changes of weather and relocation. The birds he studied had to change in order to survive, or as he simply puts it: “Survival of the Fittest”. Evolution is the changing of past organisms to diversify and have the ability to fit better in their environment and survive. Diving into the dinosaur cladogram, studies have shown that ancient dinosaurs, over hundreds of millions of years ago, evolved into our modern day birds, and not lizards as many suppose. It became apparent that there would not be enough food for a 9 ton dinosaur to consume on a daily basis forever. So evolution occurred and dinosaurs evolved to become more efficient so they could survive more effectively in their

To compare the impact of evolution on different organisms a study was conducted by: carefully examining the species of birds with each other. This was accomplished through using a sample population of 200 birds. Moreover, there were other factors that were taken into account (in order to ensure objectivity and accuracy). The below table is illustrating those factors that were considered to be the most important during this study. ("Evolution Lab," 2012)

The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner explores evolution through the most famous examples in history—the finches of the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the process of evolution are applied directly to what scientists refer to as Darwin’s Finches. Weiner follows scientists Peter and Rosemary Grant as they study the finches in real time on the Galápagos. Years of previous work, study and data is collected and analyzed. Different species of animals are observed and explained throughout history. The Grants have one goal, and that is to find the origin of the species, how organisms first began. They find that it really is about the “survival of the

10. Study Figure 1.22, which shows an evolutionary “tree.” What is indicated by twig? What do the branch points represent? Where did the “common ancestor” of the Galápagos finches originate?

The Glen Rose Trackway is a 107-million-year–old series of fossilized dinosaur footprints. Excavated from the bed of the Paluxy River in Texas, the trackway gives a picture of dinosaurs that in some ways is more striking than that offered by fossils. Collected in 1938, the smaller prints are from a theropod, a dinosaur that walked on two hind feet. The larger ones were probably left by a plant-eating sauropod, such as Apatosaurus, the hind feet of which measured 3 feet in length. Birds are dinosaurs. Just as humans are both primates and mammals because we descended from the first primate and the first mammal, birds are dinosaurs because they descended from the first theropod and the first dinosaur. Their upright stance came from the very first dinosaur.

Could birds be the closest relative there is to a dinosaur? Well they have said to of survived the comet that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs as they were able to hang in the skies out of danger. Another common feature that birds have over mammals and other animals is that they are egg laying just like reptiles and discoveries show that the eggs have the same micro structure. Palaeontologists compared the skeletal characteristics of dinosaur skeletons and bird skeletons and saw that both had many common traits. Hollow, thin walled bones, S shaped curved neck, 4 toed but only supported by three main toes and many

Subclass – Archeorinthes –*Fossil birds (Jurassic birds of Mesozoic Age). *Flight feathers present. *Long tail without a pygostyle. *Carpals and metacarpals free. *Abdominal ribs present. *Hand reduced to three digits.

First, the author notes that since modern reptiles are cold-blood and have very low metabolism, ancient reptiles such Pterosaurs could not provide enough energy for powered flight due to their low body metabolism. The professor refutes this statement by referring to the fact that fossil remaining of Pterosaurs proved that, similar to warm-blood animals like birds, these animals had

Disregarding the feathers of Longisquama, and therefore disregarding its link to Archaeopteryx, these scientists still fully support the dinosaur-bird link. As mentioned before, the extreme majority of paleontologists still subscribe to this idea. A recent discovery in the western region of China seems to clarify the link between dinosaurs and birds. Living at roughly the same time as Archaeopteryx, Sinovenator changii is very closely related to the bird yet is classified as a dinosaur.5

The passage reading claims some reasons for the pterosaurs that this kind of dinosaurs was not able to fly; despite of it had long wings. But, the professor finds all the reasons dubious and presents some evidences to refute them all.

This is believed to be a transitional between reptile and bird. However, there are six points that these supporters use with counterarguments with each one. First, this animal had a long bony tail similar to that of a reptile's (Martin). Conversely, most birds have a tail vertebrae in the embryonic stage which eventually forms into the pgyostyle which is an upstanding bone. The second point is that the Archaeopteryx had claws on its feet and feathered forelimbs (Martin). This cannot be used as evidence because many birds, such as the ostrich for example, have claws so it is not just a characteristic of reptiles (Martin). The third argument was that the bird had teeth but yet so did many ancient birds in the Mesozoic (Martin). The fourth statement used is the presence of a shallow breastbone (Martin). Similarly, most modern birds have the same shallow breastbone that are still classified solely as birds. The second last argument for the Archaeopteryx being the transitional fossil is the its bones were not hollow like modern birds but rather solid. This statement cannot be used however because it was discovered in recent years that the long bones in the bird are hollow. The final point and counterargument is that it predates the general arrival of birds by millions of years (Martin). A geologist in 1977 discovered bird fossils in western Colorado that dated as far back as 60-million years

Another interesting part of the talk was Weidensaul’s description of how scientists think of owls. At first, it was believed that owls were related to night birds and predators but with better technology, scientists were able to sequence more genomes and show that the closest relatives to owls are in fact mouse birds. It was also found that barn owls split from typical owls, the other family, around 45 million years ago.

Pterosaurs have been long suspected that they were uncapable of powered flight which requires flapping their wings to fly. This is where the writer of the article stands on this issue, while the lecturer suggests otherwise by presenting a series of undiscovered facts, reasoning and reduction.

A fossil found in the 1860s named Archaeopteryx was a said to be one of the most important finds for evolutionists. Archae is what is now called as a transitional fossil, and this specific transition is between dinosaurs and birds. Archaeopteryx is indeed classified as a bird, but the Archaeopteryx has unique features that are not possessed by birds. The Archaeopteryx does not have a bill, its trunk region vertebra is free whereas in birds it is always fused, and the Archaeopteryx has teeth which no modern day birds have. Some of its more avian features are its opposable hallux which just means it has a ‘big toe’ which is a common trait found in birds not dinosaurs, and of course feathers, among other features.

The Club-winged Manakin produces mechanical sounds that are acoustically unique to the rest of the manakins, which also exhibit mechanical sound displays. Studies have shown that male Club-winged Manakins exhibit a display in which the wings are thrown open and mechanical sounds are produced, but there have been very few studies on the behavioral intensions of such a display. However, enough studies have been made about the mechanics of the Club-winged Manakin display to create a baseline for further studies on the evolutionary behaviors as to why this type of display developed (Bostwick 2000). One of the most pervasive morphological features of birds is a semi-hollow pneumatic bone structure that is filled with honeycomb-shaped bone marrow and air sacs. This semi-hollow form maximizes flexural strength and stiffness with a minimal amount of dense bone material, allowing many modern birds to fly and breathe efficiently. High-resolution microCT scans of the wings of two male Club-winged Manakins uncovered that this species exhibits an exception to the typical pneumatic bone structure and contains solidified ulnae that is more than three times the volume of birds of comparable body size, with significantly higher tissue mineral densities (Bostwick et al. 2012). These studies examining the pair of unique