Why are birds thought to have evolved from dinosaurs?

Answer 1

In a strong sense, you're right to ask this. It's likely that modern birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs. Recent fossil remains of velociraptor have proved that they had feathers and wings, an expert said that if velociraptors were found alive today then we'd probably think they were odd looking birds. Some biologists think that birds and theropod dinosaurs should be classified in the same group, although no modern bird has teeth which theropods (which includes T. Rex) had in spades, so the classification might have to a little looser to include them all.

So, you've a strong case to say that the dinosaurs didn't completely disappear - they're still here as birds.

Answer 2

Animals adapt to their surroundings and it is the same in this case. The dinosaurs adapted to their surroundings creating a new form of species that is able to survive in that environment. The dinosaurs that could not adapt died creating the extinction of the dinosaurs, while the ones that could did and passed it on to their offspring. That's why we have birds and not dinosaurs.

Answer

The rightful questioning of the hypothesis that dinosaurs evolved into birds has nothing specifically to do with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Genetics demonstrates that the massive changes in information necessary for the one creature to change into another do not and cannot happen. Nor does the fossil record demonstrate the progressive change from one into another.

In any case true birds such as archaeoopteryx pre-date some of the specimens from which they are alleged to have descended. Or, in other words, the child is older than the parent. This is clearly impossible (remembering that this is according to the evolutionists own faulty time-scale).

Answer:Evolution from one species to another would happen in many small steps over millions of years. We dont know that birds evolved from dinosaurs though. It may actually be the other way round. The bipedal meat-eating dinosaurs called Theropods may have evolved from early birds (see related links).

Looking back in time through the theropod fossil record, these dinosaurs appear to be more bird-like the further back in time you look. Raptors are known to have had feathers and were fairly bird-like, but Archaeopteryx was much more bird-like and lived much earlier and may have been an ancestor of the raptors. There is also a controversial fossil called Protoavis that was dated even earlier and was more bird-like still, with hollow bones like modern birds.

So birds may have been around throughout the mesozoic era and pre-date the dinosaurs. We have little record of them though because avian bones are generally too fragile to leave fossils.

Answer 3

Dinosaurs are descended from early reptiles. Dinosaurs became extinct between 70 -65 million years ago; but some dinosaurs developed feathers (rather than scales) and evolved into birds.

Answer:We dont know that birds evolved from dinosaurs. It may actually be the other way round. The bipedal meat-eating dinosaurs called Theropods may have evolved from early birds (see related links).

Looking back in time through the theropod fossil record, these dinosaurs appear to be more bird-like the further back in time you look. Raptors are known to have had feathers and were fairly bird-like, but Archaeopteryx was much more bird-like and lived much earlier and may have been an ancestor of the raptors. There is also a controversial fossil called Protoavis that was dated even earlier and was more bird-like still, with hollow bones like modern birds.

So birds may have been around throughout the mesozoic era and pre-date the dinosaurs. We have little record of them though because avian bones are generally too fragile to leave fossils.

Answer 4

This hypothesis is based on three things:
- The morphology of extant birds related to the morphology of other extant species.
- The genetics of extant birds related to the genetics of other extant species.
- The morphology of extinct species related to the morphology of other extant and extinct species.

Basically, if we classify lifeforms by their morphological and (if available) genetic characteristics, we see that the clade bird is a subset of the clade of dinosaurs, more specifically theropod dinosaurs.

Answer 5

Since birds have scales on their legs, some scientists believe dinosaurs, which were reptiles back then, were birds' ancestors.

Answer 6

If the theory is true that an asteroid crashed into the Earth and it ended life than the birds may have flown high enough to not have been affected by the impact.

Answer 7

Birds evolved from a group of theropod dinosaurs in the Jurassic period.