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Weekly Online LessonOnline Lesson ArchiveGrade Level: 3-7
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Dinosaurs are for the Birds
A
team of Chinese and American scientists have announced the discovery of
a 130-million-year-old dinosaur fossil covered with what looks like downy
fluff and primitive feathers. The dinosaur fossil was found last spring
by farmers in China, and it is the first fossil ever found with its entire
body covering intact. This gives scientists the best evidence yet that
prehistoric animals developed feathers for warmth before they could fly.
The fossil animal has been identified as a Dromaeosaur, a small, fast-running dinosaur closely related to Velociraptor with a sharp claw on its middle toe and stiffening rods in its tail. Dromaeosaurs belong to a group of dinosaurs with sharp teeth and bones like those of modern-day birds. The fossil is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History.
Are birds the actual descendants of ancient dinosaurs? You will explore this question in this week's online lesson.
American Museum of Natural History
By
now you're probably eager to see photos of this feathered dinosaur. You
can at the American Museum of Natural History web site. Look in the Vertebrate
Fossil Collection. The picture on the left is a photo of the fossil;
the one on the right is a sketch of what the dinosaur may have looked
like. Read the paragraph and then click any of the pictures at the bottom
to see close-up views of the fossil. From the photos you looked at, which
showed the most feather-like detail?
Some scientists don't think the lines around the fossil skeleton are feathers. They think it may be algae or moss. What do you think?
Dinosaurs and Birds
If you're not yet sure about the bird/dinosaurs connection, visit Dinosaurs are Birds, an article by Dr. Paul Willis who seems pretty convinced himself. He does a good job of spelling out all the details, even though his writing can get pretty tough at times.
Why did Thomas Huxley first suggest that birds had something in common with dinosaurs? What was the problem with this theory? What dinosaur is considered the first bird?
Dinorama
There's
more dinosaur fun at National Geographic's Dinorama
site. (If you aren't using a big monitor you may need to scroll left and
right.) Click the first link you see on the left called Why
Feathers? This short article talks about Theropods and why they
may have needed feathers, even if they didn't fly. What do feathers have
to do with being warm-blooded, and why is this a different way of thinking
about dinosaurs? Go back to the Dinorama main page and click Early
Birds. What new information did you learn on this page?
So what do you think? Did birds come from dinosaurs? What evidence can you give?
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