Survival of Birds: How They Outlived Dinosaurs and Adapted to the Environment

By: Chris Lituma

ALL people know what a bird is – and almost everyone knows what a dinosaur is. But not everyone realizes that birds evolved from dinosaurs about 160 million years ago.

Also read: How Many Dinosaur Fossils Have Been Undiscovered?

In fact, birds and dinosaurs lived together for about 100 million years.

Birds are descended from a particular group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs, or “running lizards,” which are a family of feathered theropods or beast foot dinosaurs that includes the velociraptor.

However, when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago off the coast of what is now Mexico, the dinosaurs became extinct – but some birds still existed. You may be wondering why is that so?

By acting like detectives, scientists specializing in bird evolution are trying to figure out why birds didn’t go extinct with them.

Also read: Are There Really Dinosaurs That Are Not Extinct?

They collect clues such as fossils and other evidence of life on Earth in the past. For now, scientists have an idea as to why the birds are able to survive, but no definite answer.

The advantages of being a bird without teeth

Today’s birds have no teeth. Instead, they have beaks that come in all shapes and sizes for eating and drinking.

But some of the birds that lived during the time of the dinosaurs actually had teeth. Others don’t.

After an asteroid hit Earth a long time ago, all the toothed birds became extinct. However, many toothless birds survive.

Some scientists suspect that having no teeth is why these birds are able to survive.

Fossils of ancient toothless birds suggest they could have eaten more plant foods – especially nuts, fruits and seeds.

This means they are less dependent on other animals for food than birds with teeth. Some scientists think that this difference in diet became a huge advantage after the asteroid impact.

Also read: Evidence Mammals Also Hunted Dinosaurs Millions of Years Ago

When an asteroid hits Earth, it immediately causes a huge tsunami and earthquake. The enormous heat pulse caused by the impact caused a huge forest fire near the asteroid impact site.

In the months that followed, large amounts of dust filled the air surrounding Earth. The dust blocks sunlight so that less light is available for plants to grow.

For animals that eat plants, the amount of food is much less. Many went extinct which meant trouble for the animals that ate them.

Because so many species of animals die – and plants struggle to get enough sunlight – food can be hard to find if you’re a bird.

However, if you can peck at the ground and find buried seeds or nuts to eat, it will probably make a big difference in your ability to survive as a species.

How science works

Of course, there are other possible factors that caused the toothless birds to survive while their toothed cousins ​​perished – luck is one of them.

Also read: Did Early Humans Hunt and Eat Dinosaurs?

For now, this is a mystery with no definite answer. That’s how science works. Scientists formulate ideas or hypotheses using existing knowledge and information.

Then they test their ideas – either by conducting experiments or by gathering more evidence. This information can support or refute their ideas.

So scientists who study bird evolution are poised to revise the story of how birds could have reproduced and dinosaurs not as they gleaned more information from ancient rocks, fossils, and DNA.

Chris Lituma
Assistant Professor of Wildlife and Fisheries Resources, West Virginia University

This article was published on Kompas.com in collaboration with The Conversation Indonesia. The text above is taken from the original article entitled “How did the birds survive when the dinosaurs became extinct? Experts answer“. The contents are beyond the responsibility of Kompas.com.

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2023-08-13 12:00:00
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