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Did Birds Evolve From Dinosaurs

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Universe is full of mysteries and evolution is certainly one of them. One such mystery is: Did birds evolve from Dinosaurs? Paleontologists agree that there are evolutionary relationships between birds and dinosaurs. The birds represent a branch of the dinosaur lineage that survived the Cretaceous crisis and radiated into the forms known today. In another scenario, birds and dinosaurs had a common ancestor that gave rise to both groups.
A huge variety of ancient bird types have come and gone and evolved to give us the 9000 different species we know today. Many scientists are convinced that birds evolved from the dinosaurs. Numerous finds in recent years have seemed to support the hypothesis that birds descended from two-legged, running dinosaurs …show more content…

The bird, Liaoningornis, did not look like a dinosaur bird at all. It had a breastbone similar to modern birds, with massive flight muscles that enabled longer flights. Feduccia and Martin claim that flight is most likely to have started from a tree-climbing (arboreal) ancestor but that all the proposed dinosaurian ancestors were ground-dwellers (cursorial). This is the "trees-down" versus the "ground-up" debate and the trees-downers do have a point. Birds-Are-Dinosaurs crowd argue that an unknown dinosaurian bird-ancestor could have been arboreal or that birds evolved flight from the ground up by chasing and leaping after insects (Willis, 2003). According to Gilbert (1998) there are significant morphological differences between the dinosaurs and birds. While there is no disputing that Archaeopteryx had feathers (they are clearly preserved in two of the seven known specimens, and feathers are a distinctly avian feature), the skeleton of Archaeopteryx is distinctly non-bird-like with a long bony tail, teeth instead of a beak, and claws on the wings. While the Birds-Are-Dinosaurs supporters emphasize the similarities this skeleton has to dinosaurs, the theory’s detractors contend that the skeleton has too many bird-like features to make it a coelurosaur. For instance, Archaeopterix has a wishbone (furcula) and bird-like feet. This means that it is not merely a …show more content…

Cladists argue that differences between organisms don't matter; it's the similarities that count. Evolution dictates that organisms will change through time so it's only the features that remain the same that will carry useful information about their origins.
In a nutshell, the majority of palaeontologists working on the ancestry of birds agree that dinosaurs, particularly small theropods, are the grandparents of present-day parrots, partridges and pigeons. There are some detractors to this emerging orthodoxy but the dino-bird theory is supported by both cladistics methodology and a rapidly growing collection of primitive birds and advanced meat-eating dinosaurs (Willis, 2003). One thing is certain as birds continue to adapt to habitats and changing conditions that such a versatile creature will always be with

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The dinosaur extinction theory – a large asteroid impact and a giant volcanic eruption at the end of cretaceous – also supports that dinosaurs were cold blooded, when the dust due to the meteorite covered the earth, then the sun light could not penetrate the smoke and dust, thus sunlight did not enter the earth for many years, this lead to the drop in temperature on the land, as dinosaurs were cold blooded they could not raise their body temperature without sunlight and hence were

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Title Researchers and scientists have constructed extensive research on dinosaur’s extinction. Speculation instead of real evidence seems common in most theories about the dinosaurs’ extinction. However, Jay Gould’s essay “Sex, Drugs, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs” is the complete opposite of speculation over evidence. Rather, Gould uses the mix of persuasive techniques, such as rhetorical questions, logos, along with profound evidence to not only disapprove of other theories but convince readers of his place on the dinosaur’s extinction.

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The author makes the claims that birds have a common ancestor with dinosaurs, have similar skeletons, and have similar behavioral traits. Firstly, the author in "Shedding Light on the Dinosaur-Bird Connections", makes his first claim that birds share a common ancestor with dinosaurs. Living dinosaurs have been shown to have similar ancestors that connect them to dinosaurs in the past. The text states, "[b]irds are living dinosaurs, and they are remarkably similar to their closest extinct relatives, the non-bird theropod dinosaurs," which delineates that evidence has linked

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Throughout the story of Jurassic Park, it becomes apparent that the de-extinct dinosaurs have a biological connection to birds. As described in the book, the movie shows the audience different characteristics of the dinosaurs that can be traced to their aviating descendants. A few examples from the Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton are: “She noticed that the lizard left three-toed tracks that looked exactly like bird tracks,” from page 13; “He walked like a bird, too. He jerked his head like this, up and down,” page 17; “but he ducks his whole head under the water. Like a bird,” page 102.

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it would have been a disadvantage. It wouldn’t have feathers because it’s way too big and its body would generate a ton of heat. In the Cretaceous period the average temperature would reach up to 82 degrees and would be equivalent to an elephant wearing a thick winter coat in Africa. Who wins in a fight?

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