THE ORIGINS OF BIRDS

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever really looked at a bird’s feet? Most birds have clawed toes and scales covering their
feet. Birds also lay eggs in nests. These three traits are found in reptiles as well. However, birds
have many other traits, such as feathers and warm-bloodedness,

that are not found in modern reptiles. One of the most famous fossils ever found is Archaeopteryx,
a small animal with clawed toes, scaly legs, teeth, and feathered wings. Archaeopteryx was found
in rocks dating from the Jurassic Period, 150 million years ago. Many scientists classify
Archaeopteryx as a bird. Other scientists point out that, if you took away the feathers, this fossil
would look just like Deinonychus, a small theropod dinosaur. Scientists agree that Archaeopteryx
wasn’t able to fly, partly because it had a flat sternum (breastbone). Birds have a keeled sternum to
which flight muscles are attached. Yet Archaeopteryx clearly had feathers. Was this fossil a
dinosaur or a bird? This is only one of the many questions paleontologists struggle with when they
study the evolution of birds.

One of the first people to make a connection between dinosaurs and birds was Thomas Huxley, a
contemporary of Charles Darwin in the 1800s. In 1916, a Danish doctor named Heilmann wrote a
book titled The Origin of Birds, in which he listed the similarities between the skeletons of theropod
dinosaurs and modern birds. Later fossil discoveries made these similarities more striking. In the
1960s, an American named John Ostrom found 22 features in theropods and birds that could not
be found in any other animal groups. However, new fossils of birds and birdlike dinosaurs are being
discovered every year. Some of these fossils are changing perceptions of the origins of birds. Did
birds evolve from theropods or another group of dinosaurs? Or did birds and dinosaurs evolve from
a common ancestor much earlier in geologic time? Is Archaeopteryx the first bird? When did
feathers evolve and how? Which came first, feathers or flight?

TASK

Your job in this activity is to form an opinion as to the origins of birds. You will have to find out
what evidence supports the theory that birds descended from theropod dinosaurs. You will
have to identify the similarities among birds and other groups of animals. You will also learn about
new fossils that provide additional information about the evolution of birds. You will prepare a table
in which you compare and contrast several fossils that may, or may not, be links in the evolutionary
history of birds. Finally, you will use the information from your Internet research and the table you
have prepared to answer the following question: are birds really dinosaurs?

PART 1: Researching on the internet

Look at the web sites given here to find the information that will enable you to make an informed
decision about the origin of birds.

• Archaeopteryx: An Early Bird.

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/archaeopteryx.htmlVisit this site to learn
about fossils of Archaeopteryx, a 150-million-year-old fossil from Germany. You can find out
why fossils of Archaeopteryx provide strong phylogenetic links between birds and reptiles.
 • Aves: Fossil Record. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/birdfr.html Visit this
site by the Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley to learn about the
fossil record of birds. At this site you can find out about a new bird fossil found in China and
how it compares to Archaeopteryx, a fossil of nearly the same age.

• It’s a Bird, It’s a …Dinosaur? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-a-birdits-

adinosaur/ Go to this Scientific American magazine online site to read an article about fossil
birds. The article discusses evidence for, and against, the theory that birds are dinosaurs.

• Are Birds Really Dinosaurs? http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html

At this DinoBuzz site you can learn about the evidence that supports the theory that birds
are theropod dinosaurs. You can read about why most scientists accept the idea that birds
and dinosaurs are related, based on phylogeny and cladistics.

• Dinosaurs and Birds: The Story.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/dinobird/story.htm Visit this excellent site for an
interesting description of systematics, the science of evolutionary relationships. This site
discusses how scientists identify evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms
such as dinosaurs and birds. The site includes a good history of thoughts on bird evolution,
and some evidence that shows that birds are not descended from dinosaurs.

• Fossils from China Link Birds with Dinosaurs.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/society/ngo/events/98/dinosaurs/index.html Go to
this National Geographic site to read an article about new fossil bird discoveries in China.
Scroll down and click on full press release to read the entire article.

Part 2: Compete a table and answer the question: Are birds really dinosaurs?

Now that you have completed your research on the Internet, prepare a table that lists the bird
and/or birdlike dinosaur fossils that provide some evidence of the origins of birds. In the left
column, write the genus names of the fossils you have studied. At the top of the rows, write in the
age of the fossil, where it was found, and why it is important to the study of bird evolution. The
table is started for you below.

Table 1. Origins of Birds

Age
Name of
(millions Location Important Facts
Fossil
of years)
was an archosaur, a type of reptile; was
neither a bird nor a dinosaur; had
Longisquama 220 Kyrgyzstan
complex set of feathers and a furcula
(wishbone) - both bird characteristics
has clawed toes, scaly feet, wings, feathers
Archaeopteryx 150 Germany (bird characteristics); has teeth, flat
sternum (reptile characteristics)