Similarities Between Dinosaurs and Modern Day Birds

“Archaeopteryx and Velociraptor, despite the size of their features, both have been found to have had: wishbones, feathers, breastbones, wrists with a curved/ crescent-shaped bone and legs with 3 toes with the middle toe being the longest. So, next time you see one of the feathery animals, remember that these are the dinosaurs of the world today.”

Similarities Between Dinosaurs and Modern Day Birds

By Jaan

It may not look so, but birds and dinosaurs have many common features and it is thought that perhaps some surviving dinosaurs evolved into the birds of today. In fact there is evidence to support this claim, there is also evidence that dinosaurs were not all scales like you see in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, but they might have had feathers just like birds.

This is an illustration made by National Geographic Creative, it shows an ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus called the Guanlong which habited areas in modern day China 160 million years ago in the Oxfordian period (Late Jurassic).

This photograph, taken by Robert Clark of National Geographic Creative, shows a fossil of ​Epidexipteryx, this was a small dinosaur that lived in the Callovian period, Middle Jurassic(164-161 million years ago). In this fossil you can see that this small dinosaur once displayed feathers on its body.

Another example of feathered dinosaurs is a primitive bird called ​Archaeopteryx, ​which​ was an animal that was found to have traits of both modern day birds and theropod dinosaurs. For example, comparing the Archaeopteryx and a Velociraptor, despite the size of their features, both have been found to have had: wishbones, feathers, breastbones, wrists with a curved/crescent-shaped bone and legs with 3 toes with the middle toe being the longest. So next time you see one of the feathery animals, remember that these our the dinosaurs of our world today.

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Citations:

_____Jaan ____

● Vergano, Dan. “Birds Evolved From Dinosaurs Slowly-Then Took Off.” ​National Geographic​, National Geographic, 25 Sept. 2014, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/9/140925-bird-dinosaur-evolution-burst-scie nce/.

● “Linking Birds and Dinosaurs (Article).” ​Khan Academy​, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/amnh/dinosaurs/what-is-a-dinosaur/a/linkin g-birds-and-dinosaurs.

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