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The evolution of birds began in the Jurassic Period, with the earliest birds derived from a clade of theropod dinosaurs named Paraves. [1] Birds are categorized as a biological class, Aves. For more than a century, the small theropod dinosaur Archaeopteryx lithographica from the Late Jurassic period was considered to have been the earliest bird.
A turning point came in the early twentieth century with the writings of Gerhard Heilmann of Denmark.An artist by trade, Heilmann had a scholarly interest in birds and from 1913 to 1916, expanding on earlier work by Othenio Abel, [12] published the results of his research in several parts, dealing with the anatomy, embryology, behavior, paleontology, and evolution of birds. [13]
Birds evolved from other theropod dinosaurs that had already gone through a phase of size reduction during the Middle Jurassic, combined with rapid evolutionary changes. [3] Flying birds during their evolution further reduced relative weight through several characteristics such as the loss of teeth, shrinkage of the gonads out of mating season ...
The shared history of birds and dinosaurs is well-established, but exactly how true birds evolved during the Mesozoic is a bit of a mystery. Adding to this conundrum are fossilized footprints of ...
Evolution of the creodonts, an important group of meat-eating (carnivorous) mammals. 62 Ma Evolution of the first penguins. 60 Ma Diversification of large, flightless birds. Earliest true primates, [who?] along with the first semelid bivalves, edentate, carnivoran and lipotyphlan mammals, and owls.
National Geographic's Ed Yong says Cooper's research supports a newer theory about the flightless bird family: that they "evolved from small, flying birds that flapped their way between continents ...
Birds are one of only four taxonomic groups to have evolved powered flight. A number of animals are capable of aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. This trait has appeared by evolution many times, without any single common ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times in separate animals: insects, pterosaurs, birds, and ...
Pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds all belong to the group Avemetatarsalia and share a common evolutionary ancestor. ... “One of the big questions is: Why did feathers evolve?” McNamara said.