Dinosaurs And Birds Essay

“We often think of the T-Rex as this huge crocodile-like bipedal reptile but in fact, its closest modern relative are birds and the T-Rex was actually the dinosaur equivalent of a chicken” explains Linda Rushmore, head researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Paleontology

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

Dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 65 million years and thankfully for the human race, they became extinct. Ultimately, only a major catastrophe could completely wipe out an entire species, let alone an entity of dinosaurs and the debacle on the causes of dinosaur extinction have flooded the minds of paleontologists for centuries. Geologist and zoologist Stephen Jay Gould published “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” to compare scientific and speculative causes of dinosaur decimation. Personally, I found this passage very informational and enjoyed reading it. Gould provides three theories that capture the reader’s curiosity, allowing room for pondering in one’s mind.

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.

Neither bats nor birds, pterosaurs were considered reptiles. And although scientists have long debated where exactly pterosaurs fit on the reptile’s family tree, it has been proven time and again that they were close cousins to dinosaurs but just evolved on a different family line.

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

The reading claims that the Pterosaurs were not capable of powered flight. However, the lecturer finds all the idea dubious and presents some evidence to refute them all.

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

An example would be to compare modern day birds to dinosaurs, which would allow professionals to assemble a phylogeny relating certain characteristics that they may share and how they have evolved over time. Birds are a unique species that have feathers and fused arm bones that are not present in other theropods (Zimmer and Emlem, 2013). The evolution of bird traits began prior to the existence of birds, as theropods would not have been able to use feathers for flight purposes as their arms were too short and unable to lift them off the ground (Zimmer and Emlem,

In the past, millions of species were eradicated off the face of the Earth from various reasons including natural disasters, the inability to adapt to the environment, and even food scarcity. This essay will cover the origin, diversification, adaptive characteristics of duck-billed dinosaurs more commonly known as hadrosaurids which have been extinct from Earth millions of years ago. Hadrosaurs were one of the many dinosaur groups whose bones were left to study and learn about the past. These creatures were also mainly studied for their tough skin as a “hadrosaur versus another dinosaur, you’re 31 times more likely to preserve skin.”

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.

Zhenyuanlong Suni is a winged dinosaur from the Yixian Formation in China. The fossil found is the only one on record currently. Zenyuanlong Suni was discovered in June 2015, and the orginal analysis was done by Dr. Stephen Brusatte and Junchang Lü. Unfortunately not much is known about our dinosaur. Luckily the lone fossil found has almost been perfectly preserved, it even included traces of feathers from its wings. We found that it was highly unlikely that Zhenyuanlong Suni was capable of having powered flight due to its underdeveloped muscle structure yet it had very large wings. Some of its ancestors before could fly (powered flight) and we also find dinosaurs closely related that the capability of powered flight. This poses the question, what were the wings used for? The wings are very large and are aerodynamic, they just lack the muscle needed for powered flight.

The lecturer talks about a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx and discusses that the idea that S was a feathered dinosaur is very strong, because the fossil included a pattern of fine lines and she indicates that the points made by the reading are unconvincing.

The head researchers explained the connection between chickens and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Even though, we believe that T-Rexes are enormous bipedal reptiles that look like crocodiles, they are the closest relatives to birds and they are even equivalent to today’s chickens.