What Is The Origin Of Birds?
The origin of birds and their evolutionary history is one of the greatest mysteries facing archaeologists and biologists. Do you want to know what is known so far?
Origin of birds
Currently, there is a certain consensus: birds evolved from dinosaurs. Specifically, from a group known as cellurosaurs, and within that we would have close relatives of birds, such as the famous velociraptor.
The first missing link that shows us the origin of birds is the famous Archeopteryx; with intermediate characteristics between modern birds and feathered dinosaurs.
This animal had long feathers and could fly, although it had sharp teeth.
The study of the origin of birds began in parallel with Darwin’s publications. A year after the publication of “ The Origin of Species”, the first fossilized plume was discovered.
From there, several theories and links emerged to explain the origin of birds.
Origin of birds: how do they look like dinosaurs?
One of the characteristics that unites dinosaurs and birds is the presence of feathers, and while some dinosaurs had very simple filamentous feathers, the truth is that there were dinosaurs with feathers as complex as those of birds.
However, much stronger is the relationship between dinosaurs and birds, if we look at their skeleton: most of their skeleton has similarities, especially in areas like the wishbone or keel, indispensable in birds.
As for the lungs, it is surprising to find that carnivorous dinosaurs had birdlike air sacs.
It is even believed that dinosaurs slept like many birds and tucked their heads under their extremities to keep them warm.
The behavior and biology of dinosaurs also give us clues to the origin of birds. Both dinosaurs and birds produce medullary bone.
It is a type of tissue rich in calcium that can produce the eggshell.
Many fossilized dinosaurs were found incubating their young, and the fact that the absence of teeth at an early age suggested that the parents regurgitated food for the young.
Even small stones have been found in dinosaurs’ digestive systems to help them digest; in a similar way to the gizzard of birds.
The origin of flight in birds
But if the origin of birds is in dinosaurs, how did their ability to fly evolve? We must remember that pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, so there are two hypotheses:
That runner dinosaurs began using their wings to balance themselves; or that arboreal dinosaurs used them to control their jumps.
So, in the beginning, the wings would not have been a tool used to fly, but little by little, the front members would have adapted first to balance these animals.
First, to allow for a cushioned fall. Then they allowed the birds to glide a little, and finally the evolutionary process led the descendants of these animals to fly.
When the extinction of the dinosaurs came, some of these animals managed to survive the cataclysm.
Their descendants made possible the origin of birds, animals that managed to conquer all ecosystems on the planet today. Isn’t that wonderful?
