Hypotheses On the Origin of Birds

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Hypotheses On the Origin of Birds

Since the advent of the theory of evolution the origin of birds has been a thriving topic in science. Many ideas and hypotheses have been presented, but only two stand today: that birds are descendents of ancient thecodont stem reptiles, and that birds are the direct descendents of a group of dinosaurs known as the coelurosaurs. Both hypotheses pose many interesting and insightful ideas based on information obtained from the fossil record. There is not enough evidence at this time to determine which hypothesis, if either, is right. Only more hard work by scientists will tell. Until then we have only speculation, but speculation based in observed evidence.

The origin of birds is one of the great mysteries in biology. Birds are dramatically different from all other living creatures. Feathers, toothless beaks, hollow bones, perching feet, wishbones, deep breastbones, and stump-like tailbones are only part of the combination of features that no other living animal has in common with them (Padian and Chiappe 1998).

Scientists have speculated on the evolutionary history of birds since shortly after Charles Darwin established his theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species (Padian and Chiappe 1998). One year later, in 1860, a solitary fossil feather of a bird was found dating back 150 million years. The next year a skeleton of an animal that had bird-like wings and feathers, but a very unbirdlike long, bony tail and toothed jaw, turned up in the same region. These finds became the first two specimens of Archaeopteryx lithographica, the most archaic known member of the birds, and sparked the immense interest in the evolution of birds and the search for their ancestors (Padian and Chiappe 1998...

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