Birds Evolved from Dinosaurs
Understand that modern birds evolved from a group of small feathered theropod dinosaurs, using evidence such as the fossil Archaeopteryx, feathered dinosaur fossils from China, and shared skeletal features
What a learner can do afterwards
- State that birds evolved from small theropod dinosaurs
- Name Archaeopteryx or Chinese feathered dinosaurs as key fossil evidence
- List at least two features birds share with theropods (e.g. hollow bones, wishbone, three-toed feet)
1 · Read
You just learned that living things can change over millions of years. Here is the example: a pigeon, a crow, or an eagle is a living dinosaur. Millions of years ago, a group of small, feathered dinosaurs called theropods slowly changed into the birds we see today. Pterosaurs flew but were not dinosaurs.
In 1861, workers in Germany found a fossil called Archaeopteryx. It had feathered wings like a bird, but it also had sharp teeth, claws on its wings, and a long bony tail like a dinosaur. It sat right between the two groups. Birds also kept hollow bones, a wishbone and three-toed feet from theropods. Feathered dinosaurs from China showed feathers came before flight. Feathered theropods came first, Archaeopteryx in the middle, and birds today last.
Feathered dinosaur fossils have also turned up in China. Many of these dinosaurs could not fly at all, which tells scientists that feathers came first and flight came later.
Birds are the living descendants of small feathered theropod dinosaurs, and fossils like Archaeopteryx show the two groups sharing bones, feathers, and body plans.
The rewritten reading was written for this dataset.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.