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Avian Dinosaurs

Articles: Avian Dinosaurs

Male wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo. Photo: Malene Thyssen

Birds (Aves), also known as Avian Dinosaurs, comprise the last surviving group of theropod dinosaurs with approximately 18,000 species. This means that there are more species of dinosaur alive today than there were in the Mesozoic. An especially cool fact: the Tyrannosaurus rex is more closely related to a chicken than it is to a Stegosaurus. Of course, this means that there are developmental biologists out there racing to figure out how to reverse-engineer a chicken; apparently, all you have to do is “turn on” the right genes. Scary, but true.

Photo study of a chicken feather. Photo: Hariadhi CC BY-SA 3.0

            Not all birds fly, build nests, or sing, but there is one feature that all modern birds share: they are the only animals in the world with feathers. Paleontologists now agree that there were many feathered dinosaurs and non-avian coelurosaurian theropods. These early birds and beasts sported a diversity of feather types, colors, and plumage much like birds ...

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Voices of the West; New Science on Life in the Garden by Frederique Lavoipierre

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