RichardMM_dinosaur_bird_realistic_hyper-detail_m42_mount_colorf_1141822b-5233-4121-85d9-8a

170 Mya
First Birds

Birds as we know them today have evolved from primitive dinosaurs called “Thecodonts” All the features and habits we see today are present in a number of transitional fossils that show both reptilian and avian characteristics.

In the early 1860s shortly after Darwin published his ‘On the Origin of Species’ some fossils were found in a quarry in Germany. These were of a creature which clearly had a long bony tail, teeth in its jaw and claws on its digits. All reptilian characteristics. However, it also had feathers on its arms, body and tail. It was named Archaeopteryx. The rock in which it was found was a fine-grained limestone that was quarried for lithographic purposes, and all the fossils were beautifully preserved.

Over the next few decades a few more specimens were found and it became clear that the transitional nature of the fossils was in fact correct, though the exact nature of the ancestral reptiles was under a great deal of investigation.

Then in the 1990s exciting new discoveries were made in China. Altogether more than 30 separate species have been identified all combining the mixture of features that illustrate the transition from reptiles to flying birds.

Some even show the small grains that birds have in their stomach to help digest their food.

There are two theories on how flight developed. This forms part of the investigation of feather structures, which developed from fluffy downy feathers which were probably developed to maintain warmth to fully shaped flight feathers.

Top Down:

Feathers enabled the birds to fly or glide between trees.

Bottom Up:

Developed to assist ground dwelling birds to escape predation or access food in the trees.

An impression of what Archaeopteryx may have looked like.Showing the ‘hand’ claws in the wings, the toothed jaws not beak and bony tail.

170 Mya First Birds

170 Mya
First Birds