Birds are dinosaurs. Because the ancestors of all birds were dinosaurs, living birds still have many dinosaurian characters like feathers, three-fingered hands, modified wrist bones, and incubating eggs on nests. Birds (also referred to as avian dinosaurs by paleontologists) that lived alongside (non-avian) dinosaurs had even more dinosaurian features. Like teeth. Although all toothed birdsContinueContinue reading “Before the dinosaur extinction lived birds with teeth.”
Tag Archives: Birds
Digging deeper into fossil seabirds from Kansas
Eighty-five million years ago, a seabird called Ichthyornis (which means “fish bird”) lived and died over the ocean that covered Kansas and much of central North America. With well-developed wings, hollow bones, and a body roughly the size and shape of a tern’s, Ichthyornis looked like modern birds and was clearly capable of flying. However,ContinueContinue reading “Digging deeper into fossil seabirds from Kansas”
Laura E. Wilson, Ph.D. 