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What type of fossil evidence may exist that would lead scientists to believe that dinosaurs were ancestors of birds why might large dinosaurs have died out at the end of the Mesozoic era while small.?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
The bones articulate as do the bones of birds. The DNA resembles that of birds. Some impression fossils show feathers, a bird specialty.
Probably only one line of dinosaurs survived to evolve into modern birds; the dromaeosaurs being the most likely. The challenge of size is that the bigger you are, the fewer of you there are, so catastrophes tend to wipe out the giants first, then the mid-sized, and possibly some of the little ones survive.
Also, those huge and impressive creatures tend to be at the end of their specialization and can't easily adapt to new conditions, while there may have been small, generalized dinosaurs whose fossils we haven't even found which, after scrounging along the margins, suddenly found themselves ideally positioned to exploit the new environment.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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Is there evidence that dinosaurs really did live?
Yes there is evidence of Mesozoic dinosaurs in the form of fossilised bones of hundreds of clades, ranging from embryos to adult, eggs, coprolites and trackways. There are dinosaurs living today, the birds which are theropod dinosaurs. There is overwhelming evidence that birds derived from dinosaurs. There are now many fossils that show many types dinosaurs had feathers.
What evidence do scientists find in fossils and living things?
Scientist find evidence about common ancestors.
How do scientists know everything but not how the dinosaurs died out?
Scientists don't know everything, nor do they claim to know everything.There's a lot of compelling evidence to suggest that the dinosaurs were killed of by a massive meteorite impact.
What evidence supporting the theory that dinosaurs were warm blooded was discussed in Jurassic Park?
The evidence supporting the theory that dinosaurs were warm blooded discussed in Jurassic Park was the use of bird examples. Because of dinosaurs large size, scientists argued that Dinosaurs had to be warm blooded in order to function.
In which era did dinosaurs appear and die out?
The fossil records for dinosaurs end during the late Cretaceous period. This means that their numbers dwindled so low as to not leave fossil evidence. Their true extinction most like followed quickly. This is picky, I admit, but since you asked what ERA ended the dinosaurs, I suppose you should have the answer. They died out at the end of the Mesozoic Era (which was, as noted above, also the end of the Cretaceous Period). However, many scientists no classify birds as dinosaurs, in which case they never fully became extinct.
Why the theory of dinosaurs has become convincing?
This is because there is more evidence to suggest one theory took place over another. More evidence means a larger likelyhood. But likelyhood alone cannot conclusively present an answer, therefore even though some theories are more PROBABLE, they are only as POSSIBLE as any other theory which has evidence to support it.
Do scientists really know what happend to the dinosaurs?
Science doesn't really work like that; but there is good evidence that a major asteroid impact happened shortly before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. To complicate the story slightly, the dinosaurs had been declining before the asteroid hit - so it may be the asteroid may have speeded an existing process. There is also good evidence that modern birds are descended from dinosaurs.
Why are dinosaurs considered the ancestors of modern birds if they were cold blooded?
How are you so certain that they were cold-blooded (ectothermic)? In reality that was nothing more than an asumption made by early scientists when they at first noticed their resemblance to reptiles. It is true that dinosaurs evolved from reptiles but so did mammals! It is quite possible that dinosaurs were the first animals to develop warm blood (endothermic) and since scientists have gather a lot of evidence to suggest that birds evolved from dinosaurs, then is possible that that is where the birds got their ability to regulate their internal temperature. What evidences? See the answer below.AnswerMany dinosaurs have a similar bone structure to that of birds. It has been proved that dinosaur bones (especially skulls and their cranium structure) are more closely related to birds (such as the ostrich), rather than reptilian bones (like the crocodile). Due to birds and dinosaurs having similar cranium structures, scientists believe that they might have had the same thinking abilities as well. Also, some dinosaurs could have been warmblooded.
What are some features of dinosaurs that have lead scientists to theorize that brids evolved from dinosaurs?
Theropod dinosaurs share many features with birds. Some include bones with honeycomb like air pockets that made them lighter, wishbones, and feathers. Further evidence comes from fossils like that of Archaeopteryx, which had features of dinosaurs and birds.
What do scientists study to learn more about early humans?
Scientists study fossils, ancient tools, and DNA to learn more about early humans. By comparing and analyzing these sources of evidence, scientists can piece together information about the behavior, lifestyle, and relationships of our ancestors.
What was the mass extinction in the mesozoic era caused by?
You are probably asking about the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Mesozoic boundary, about 65 million years ago. We know that there was a major meteoric impact in the Yucatan peninsula at that time, which was at least partially involved in the mass extinction; some scientists believe that there were other contributing factors, but it remains a complicated and difficult issue to investigate.
How do scientists get empirical evidence?
i know that this is stupid but how do scientists get empirical evidence.
