Have Birds Evolved Form Dinosaurs

“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

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.

For example, the diatryma that existed in the Cenozoic Era. If you look at the anatomy of its bones or pictures, it will have many similarities to modern day flightless birds, to be specific, the meleagris gallopavo which is more commonly known as a turkey. While turkeys may be smaller than their 6 foot tall ancestors, they both have feathers, and walk on two legs. They are a great example how organisms from the evolve and turn into modern day animals. Now we know that all organisms evolve from past organisms, but it has been proven that all living organisms evolved from one single-celled organism. That one organism reproduced and it spread out all over the world then it adapted to the certain environment it was in and they all evolved and formed different adaptations which caused the formation of all life on earth that kept evolving and evolving to get to the point in time that we are living in where there are millions of different types of

1) What are the three lines of fossil evidence that point to an early origin of life on Earth? Discuss each line and what it tells us about when life arose. What are the implications of an early origin for the possibility of life elsewhere?

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

For years, directors have made several movies insinuating what life would be like if dinosaurs were living on Earth today, such as what dinosaurs would look like and how they would act. Archeologists, paleontologists, and other researchers have proven the existence of dinosaurs. Fossil, preserved remains, evidence dates back to over 200 million years ago (“Dinosaur”). Each fossil, or remains, gives identifying information about the creature that once lived. Experts have revealed dinosaurs to be in the reptile category. Nevertheless, not all reptiles are dinosaurs. However, aquatic, land, and air life in the Paleozoic, Mesozoic eras in which dinosaurs lived and the Cenozoic era, also known as the present time, animals share many similarities.

New research conducted by U.S. scientists finds that genes led to scales turning into feathers over time for the early ancestors of known birds. They managed to cause reptiles’ scales to change in the lab by expressing these genes in embryo alligator skin. Through this experiment, they glean that these genes were responsible for that transition in the evolution of birds. That study was published two weeks ago in the scientific journal, Molecular Biology and Evolution. On Wednesday this week, a new study reports the discovery of an entirely new genus and species of dinosaur described by PBS as being “duck-like.”

What is convergent evolution and how can convergent evolution in the past affect the description of fossilized species? Convergent evolution is when two branches of evolution converge on the same feature by separate paths. For example, birds and bats share the feature of having wings and being able to fly. But they arrived at that ability through separate paths, not through their common

Evolutionists say dinosaurs lived million of years ago. Scientists have estimated that the last dinosaur died approximately 65 million years ago. Scientists still are not sure how they died, but they suspect that climatic weather, diseases, changing plant communities, and geologic events could have had something to do with their extinction. The oldest Jurassic dinosaur was a Basal Netheropod from Great Britain. Scientists have found fossilized eggs, bones, and feces. Dinosaurs have been unearthed by creationists on their ranches and land in the United States; men and women have found thousands of dinosaur skeletons and other artifacts that were left behind in the prehistoric ages. Scientists have found some fossils as small as rats, but

Fossils play a big part in the ‘’evolution world’’, because fossils are an important thing in this world. Fossils informed us about life on earth before anyone's time, and has helped scientists unlock many doors, and many questions. In the evolutionary theory certain characteristics will show similarities that the generations have handed down. (Fossil evidence - Understanding Evolution." 2005. 18 Feb. 2016) Fossils are the reason people question this theory more often, how many things came about, and how people even learned about things when life on earth came about.

when they hear that the giver of life isn’t the smartest.) These are the two

Continuing to explain this evolution the team examined various dinosaur jaw fossils. During this they found a Cretaceous bird called Sapeornis that went through the same transformation as the Limusaurus. The Sapeornis also favored modern birds and a velociraptor. For the first time these findings actually describe the evolutionary process of the beak.

In order to understand the relationship of ancient life such as dinosaurs, fossils are necessary. Though they are vital in the process of classifying relatedness, they can prove to be extremely problematic in regards to variation. Biologically speaking, variation could have an abundance of explanations for why fossils, for example, are shaped they way they are. The question of the nature of these variation is where the problems begin. This specific controversy stems from the the question of how Triceratops and Torosaurus are related. Back in 2010, two men by the name of Scannella and Horner claimed that after ontogenetic analyses, Triceratops

Dinosaurs were huge animals that existed in the past (Triassic period). Species came in different sizes and forms. Some had huge bodies while other tiny bodies and shape. From historical evidence prevalent today, dinosaurs were found in all continents but differed in sizes and physical attributes. The landmass prevalent in different regions denoted the type of species that existed within its boundaries.