Recently, fossils of early birds have been collected from Mesozoic-aged rocks worldwide. Hundreds of millions of years ago, a huge new life form of flying dinosaurs called Pterosaurs became known. (Birds: The Late Evolution of Dinosaurs)These dinosaurs had wings of skin stretched between an enormously elongated finger and its flanks. Pterosaurs were known as the first vertebrates to take flight. About 150 million years ago, Pterosaurs were joined in the air by a more aerodynamic, featured creature, known as the bird. When the oldest known bird fossil of the Archaeopteryx was found, in the 1860s, a lot of controversy began over the evolution of birds and their relationship to dinosaurs. The Archaeopteryx had three toes armed with claws and long, …show more content…
Since birds had the ability to fly, they could search further and wider for food and even live where other creatures could not. This could explain how Aves were the only dinosaurs to survive the mass extinction. The question still remains is did birds evolve from dinosaurs. With there being a gap in the fossil record between the first known bird and the Dromaeosaurs, sister taxa group to the Aves, researchers cannot conclude, with evidence, that birds evolved from dinosaurs. There are also many anatomy misinterpretations and assumptions in development that cause some researchers to doubt the hypothesis. There is, however, much evidence that is accepted to establish a strong relationship between birds and dinosaurs. With that being said, observing the behavior of modern birds could give insight on how some closely related dinosaurs may have behaved. From watching a hawk dive to catch prey or an ostrich running across the land, birds today may exhibit some behaviors of the now extinct dinosaurs. Since time has passed and life has evolved, we can only conclude with the similarities found between birds and dinosaurs constitute a relationship. A lot of the same skeletal morphology is present in modern birds that were present and evolved in the now extinct dinosaurs. Birds can be considered as a descendant to dinosaurs. If another mass extinction was to occur, birds may be one of the only species to survive because of its versatility. Over time, birds have evolved and adapted to the changing environment on Earth. As debates continue over the evolution of birds, only time will expose evidence needed to conclude the argument that birds did evolve from dinosaurs. It is safe to say they are closely related and have a strong relationship between the two