Why Did Dinosaurs Evolve Into Birds

445 Words2 Pages

So, how exactly did dinosaurs evolve into birds you may be wondering? Well, it was a long process although once the initial changes took place, the evolution from dinosaur to bird happened relatively quickly. Giving that, what exactly defines a bird, to be more precise why do we call aves birds and not dinosaurs? Well the answer is because of a few features. One thing that all birds share is a pair of feathered wings, feathers covering most of their body, and of course a highly specialized toothless beak and strong gizzard. Although not all of the birds around today can fly, they are built for it which is due to their long evolutionary history. Scientific evidence has shown that during evolution, birds developed paedomorphic skulls, wings, and toothless beaks all of which were main points in dinosaurs evolving into birds. …show more content…

The first section will be a quick excerpt about the theropods, how they were classified, and how those specific types of dinosaurs related to birds. The second section will explain more about the fossils found, and how a new theory in bird evolution came about due to the discovery. The third portion will be about the skull shape and size of modern birds, and how that was a key point in the evolution of the aves. The last portion will discuss how dinosaurs went from having snouts full of teeth to the toothless beaks birds have today as well as a brief mention about the changed morphology in the arm and wrist muscles of dinosaurs. That portion will also discuss how some scientists were able to manipulate chicken embryos so that the modified body part looked more like that of a dinosaur and how the finding further tell how dinosaurs may have evolved into birds. This paper will then conclude with a brief discussion of the different changes that were talked about and how they were significant in the process of