Published: November 07, 2009 05:06 pm      

Birding with Jerry Hall: New evidence supports notion that birds evolved from dinosaurs

Wimberley — Five ancient fossils recently found in China have added new evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

The fossils, some up to 168 million years old, are much older than the oldest undisputed bird, Archaeopterx, which lived some 150 million years ago. One of the new-found dinosaurs has extensive plumage and profusely feathered feet, providing important new information on the origins of birds and the evolution of feathers.

“This fossil provides confirmation that the bird-dinosaur hypothesis is correct and supports the idea that birds descended from theropod dinosaurs, the group of predatory dinosaurs that include Allosaurus and Velociraptor,” said Dr. Xu Xing, lead scientist on the report published online in the journal Nature.

While not every T-rex evolved into a turkey vulture — only certain types of dinosaurs grew feathers — it is interesting to look at birds and imagine them as little feathered dinosaurs.

Of course, it’s easier to make the dinosaur connection if you look at the ostrich, a huge bird with a wicked toe claw that would be right at home on some long-ago reptilian ancestor.

Professor Michael Benton, of the University of Bristol, and one of the world’s leading experts on dinosaurs, had this to say about the new Chinese fossils: “This is one of the most exciting fossil discoveries in recent years. It’s like finding a missing piece of the jigsaw – suddenly the picture looks much more complete.”

If you’d like to know more about the bird/dinosaur connection, you don’t have to contact Professor Benton or Dr. Xing – just attend the next meeting of the Wimberley Birding Society.

It’s set for 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 16, in the Wimberley Community Center. Speaker will be Dr. Pamela Owen, senior paleontology educator at the Texas Natural Science Center, University of Texas at Austin. Her PowerPoint presentation is titled “Birds as Dinosaurs” and she will also explain the history and mission of the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin.

Dr. Owen poses the questions: “Tyrannosaurus and Texas shore birds – are they related? Texas Memorial Museum – what’s it been up to for the past 70 years?”

Come hear her talk to find out the answers.