Evolution Of Carnivorous Dinosaurs

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

From both the title of the chapter and the introduction by Dr. Shubin, this chapter begins with a focus on teeth. Because the function of teeth is to break down food before it enters the esophagus, the different shapes of teeth can represent many different things about the organism it belongs to including what type of eater it was (carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore). Teeth are the hardest tissue (not bone) in the human body and therefore fossilize well. As Dr. Shubin stated in chapter one, there must be many points that permit a fossil to make any kind of scientific conclusion. Obviously, the state of their presence is important, so the fact that teeth preserve well allows for them to be great specimens for analysis. Dr. Shubin and his team analyzed fossilized teeth in areas as different as Nova Scotia and the Arizona desert. Studying different fossils in these diverse regions allowed the team to see that mammalian and reptilian teeth are very different. For example, mammalian teeth differ from organism to organism to fit with the organisms need (Cheetahs that eat only meat will have different teeth than deer who are herbivores) and are replaced only once in the lifetime of the organism while reptilian teeth are usually sharp and are constantly replaced if damaged. These differences allowed scientists to characterize fossils as either a reptile or a mammal. Similar to Tiktaalik discussed in chapter one, the discovery of fossils that were part reptile and part mammal allowed the researchers to see that mammals evolved from reptiles, and further supported the theory of evolution. Further studies yielded even more

The elongated arm bones that support the wing evolved in the first coelurosaur, which probably looked like ornitholestes. As far as we know feathers are unique to birds, but this doesn’t mean that birds are not dinosaurs. Because birds belong to the group called dinosaurs, it follows that birds are feathered dinosaurs. The closest known evolutionary relatives of birds are some of the small carnivorous dinosaurs, such as velociraptor, ornitholestes, and deinonychus. The difference between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Apatosaurus is that almost everything about Tyrannosaurus Rex indicates enormous power of one of the largest theropod dinosaurs that ever existed. They have a 4-foot-long jaw, 6-inch-long teeth and massive thighbones. It is the largest and most fearsome carnivore of all time. The fossil was originally arranged so that the dinosaur stood

Abstract: This paper deals with the Shantungosaurus Giganteus and its discovery, fossil information, its phylogeny and reconstructed life habit. The features of the Shantungosaurus include flat beaks, large jaws, and large holes near their nostrils. They prefers high ground and lived in warm weather with ample precipitation. Theses herbivores behavior includes being social or companionable as well as terrestrial. These dinosaurs would travel in herds due to the ongoing treat of predators attacking. The Shantungosaurus did have the ability to defend itself but also knew when to flee if a predator bigger than them came along. These dinosaurs survived until the Late Cretaceous period until one of the greatest mass extinctions happened which ended

Medium ground finches had small beaks before but changed over time. This was caused because of evolution and survival of the fittest. When Charles Darwin came onto the island he wondered why there were many different species of the finches, then he hypothesized that a group of finches might have came in from South America. Then splitting of the finches and adapting into their environment to have a better chance of surviving. The finches beaks helped with Darwin thinking

Researchers believe that dinosaurs shrunk in size while adapting to new changes in the environment. Researchers believe birds descended from two-legged dinosaurs, Theropods. The skull itself is believed to have gone from a Velociraptor, to Archaeopteryx, to modern day chickens and pigeons. Some differences from the Archaeopteryx and chicken are the size of the brain, eye cavities, and beak. The Archaeoptreryx had teeth, where as the chicken does not.

Brusatte did more research on this topic when he was a graduate student when his colleague Richard Butler proposed the idea of both of them together looking at the changes that dinosaurs went through during the ten to fifteen million year before they became extinct. I thought this was very interesting as a reader to see how Brusatte, someone who focuses on early life of dinosaurs and birds combine with someone like Butler who works in the more mathematical side of evolutionary trends. They were able to join forces and research about a single topic in order to discover something they both want to know about. Together they did their research by examining dinosaur diversity trends by using morphological disparity. They learned that most dinosaurs had a steady disparity and only herbivore dinosaurs like horned and duck billed had a declining

In the science of paleontology, the history of life is studied. Paleontologists study fossils to learn the past ecologies, evolution, and the origins of humans. In order to understand the processes that have led to both the origination and destruction of organisms since life began, paleontologists incorporate both scientific knowledge and studies. Fossil findings are critically important for confirming predictions of evolution theory. Of the many discoveries that are made yearly to add depth to the understanding of evolution, an example is a recent discovery of a creature they named Tiktaalik. The Tiktaalik was uncovered to be a transitional animal between shallow-water fishes and limbed animals. The creature supports the idea that it emerged from both mammals and reptiles, suggesting that the two are related. These findings support prediction of evolution, contradicting the belief that God

Though teeth may seem to be rather small, Torices and the other researchers say the teeth are the key to reconstructing the dinosaurs lives, especially in Europe during the Late Cretaceous

A study conducted in Alberta, Canada, has identified a new dinosaur species, Ornithomimus (Science Daily, 2015). This discovery, made by an undergraduate paleontology student, unveiled a species with soft tissue as well as preserved tail feathers (Science Daily, 2015). Learning about the existence of this particular species has helped fill in unknown gaps about the convergent evolution between dinosaurs and ostriches (Science Daily, 2015). Due to sediment compaction, the obtained evidence of the feathers was crushed, however, by using technology, researchers determined a three-dimensional keratin structure to the feathers on the tail and body of the species (Science Daily, 2015).

For the bird their beaks would have either originated from plant or seeds, over time as they would have began to go off into other parts of the and they would have has to develop their beaks to fit their certain food type. Other factors such as geographical barriers would have also affected in how the way that their beaks changes overtime. After a while the birds would have been separated for a while would have developed their own characteristics to adjust to their different habitats. This

In the current times, feathers are only found in birds and provide them a unique nature. Feathers vary in size, color, shape, and arrangement on the body of the birds. They are used for various purposes such as flight, insulation, beauty, swimming and floating, support when the birds are not flying and constructing nests. It is essential to understand the origin of feathers. Evidence of the existence of feathers can be dated back to one hundred and sixty million years ago during the Last Jurassic period (Chen et al., 2015). Long before birds used feathers for flying and for insulation purposes, some scientists believe, they were used by Epidexipteryx, a small dinosaur, for display and seduction of dinosaurs of the opposite sex. They first appeared

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.”

Birds are descendants of theropod dinosaurs. In the article, “ A Chicken with Dinosaur Legs? Scientists say that’s not so Strange,”it mentions that dinosaur embryos and chicken embryos have similarities. Today, chicks inside eggs have dinosaur fibulas for a short period of time, it disappears before it hatches. This evidence suggests that dinosaurs and chickens are indeed related. The evidence suggest this because during the embryo phase they share similar features. You many wonder how this may support my claim but since chicken are birds the evidence proves that chickens came from those magnificent creatures. The only thing that stopped the chicken from developing the features were a few genes. Another piece of evidence from the video “The

Past studies showed the strength of the form and function relationship in the avian furcula, while this study examined the form and function in more modern Mesozoic birds. This study revealed that eigenshape analysis of Arvin birds furcular allows for more derived flight modes. This study confirmed that soaring birds have a more U-shaped furcula than continuously-flapping birds. It also observed that the interclavicular angle is an even more important aspect of flight mode than the curvature, and is positively correlated with body size. This study demonstrates that the Mesozoic taxa have evolved unique flight modes through different musculoskeletal