Are Dinosaurs Really Extinct? Why Some People Don't Think So?

Dinosaurs have been extinct for years. However, some are still positive that they aren't extinct and are still present in the form of birds, and they may have plausible reasons for believing so.

Are Dinosaurs Extinct?

Birds are the only living remnants from the age of dinosaurs. Most of us know from primary school that an errant asteroid approximately 66 million years ago took out the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period. Additionally, we know that birds are both the offspring of dinosaurs and dinosaurs themselves. This is strange because we assumed that dinosaurs were all meant to be toast.

We know these two facts - (1) birds exist today, and (2) non-avian dinosaurs died extinct. And there is a difference between dinosaurs that are not birds and birds. According to Riley Black, author of "The Last Days of the Dinosaurs."

It is more accurate to see birds as a particular subgroup of dinosaurs. Within the dinosaur world, several specializations pushed some groups toward long necks and plant-based diets while pushing others into stocky, low-to-the-ground bodies and armored skin. Others still acquired feathers and eventually developed flight.

Feathers, a warm-blooded metabolism, egg-laying, air sacs, and parental care were just some traits that arose in early dinosaurs and were passed down to birds. It's possible that birds reached their pinnacle during the time of the dinosaurs and are still coming to terms with the cosmic knockout. Birds were significantly more diversified before the extinction catastrophe, with some bird families having teeth and more akin to early dinosaur traits.

Cassidy Ward concluded that the dinosaurs weren't truly extinct after all. Not all of them, at least. The few dinos that could endure the hardships were the only ones to do so in a tiny group, and they now wake us up in the morning with their tweets.

Birds Are The Surviving Dinosaurs?

Theropod dinosaurs were a group of meat-eating dinosaurs from which birds descended. Although birds developed from little theropods rather than gigantic ones like Tyrannosaurus rex, they nonetheless belonged to the same group as the dinosaur T. rex.

The earliest fossilized bird remains date back 150 million years. These extinct birds had many traits with small, feathered dinosaurs and resembled them somewhat. Sharp teeth were still present in their mouths. However, birds lost their teeth over time and developed beaks.

The first bird known from the fossil record with teeth, Archaeopteryx, lived during the Jurassic period. It became the focal point for the development of birds after being promptly identified as the earliest bird. For a very long time, it was unclear where birds came from and what their ancestry looked like. Currently, it is firmly established that birds were merely an extension of the dinosaur family tree.

The dinosaurs' reign, which lasted for more than 140 million years, ended abruptly when a big asteroid strike and enormous volcanic eruptions drastically altered the ecosystem. Most dinosaurs died out. There were now only birds.

Birds underwent various changes over the ensuing 66 million years, enabling them to endure in various habitats. There are currently 11,000 different species of birds.

But why did birds survive, given their strong resemblance to ancient dinosaurs? The combination of their small size, capacity to eat a wide variety of foods, and ability to fly is presumably the cause.

Check out more news and information on dinosaurs in Science Times.