Birds, a habitual part of our daily life, are thought to have descended from dinosaurs about 160 million years ago. In fact, birds and dinosaurs lived together for about 100 million years. The birds are thought to have descended from a particular group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs or “running lizards”, a family of feathered theropod or “monsterfoot” dinosaurs, including velociraptor.
66 million years ago, when an asteroid hit Earth off the coast of what is now Mexico, the dinosaurs went extinct. But some birds survived.
Scientists specializing in the history of birds are trying to understand why birds did not disappear during the same event with their research. They piece together clues such as fossils and other evidence of life on Earth long ago. Scientists have some ideas about why the birds survived, but a definitive answer has yet to be formed.
Birds today do not have teeth. Instead, they have beaks of many shapes and sizes for eating and drinking. But while some birds that lived in dinosaur times didn’t have teeth, many others did.
After the asteroid hit Earth, all birds with teeth became extinct. But most of the toothless survived. Some scientists think it’s the lack of teeth that keeps these birds alive.
Fossils of the first toothless birds show that they were more able to eat plant-based foods, especially nuts, fruits and seeds. This means that they are less dependent on eating other animals than toothed birds. Some scientists think that this difference in diet became a huge advantage after the asteroid impact.
When the asteroid hit Earth, it caused enormous tsunamis and earthquakes. A huge heatwave from the collision caused massive wildfires near where the asteroid hit. In the months that followed, large amounts of dust filled the layer of air surrounding Earth. It blocked the sun, causing less light to reach the surface that plants could use to grow.
This change made it difficult for birds to find food, as many species of animals died out and plants struggled to get enough sunlight. But it’s possible that birds that can find buried seeds or berries by pecking at the soil may have the difference they need to survive as a species.
Of course, there may be other factors that cause toothless birds to survive and their toothed cousins to perish, and luck is among them…
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