Dinosaur for Dinner? Would you like some dinosaur for dinner? Yep, you heard it right! Every one of us has tried dinosaur for dinner. With tomato or Alfredo sauce, or simply sprinkled with ground pepper and salt. Dinosaurs did survive through Earth’s asteroid impact and Earth’s Ice Ages.
Dinosaurs are direct ancestors of our modern, … ta-da! ... Chicken!
Dinosaurs needed to adapt to the new conditions, which ruled the Earth after the meteorite collision some 65 million years ago. Look around yourself. You see birds outside everyday. Birds are the only living modern offspring of prehistoric dinosaurs. 288
Take a look at this 65-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of an avian dinosaur. This ancient species is named Archaeopteryx. It closely resembles a chicken. A modern chicken skeleton is illustrated to the right of the dinosaur fossil. Take away the dinosaur’s flying ability, add some more fluff to the belly and there you go! Modern chicken! This is a great example of evolution at work. Although there are no dinosaurs living on Earth today, the chicken is a modern descendant of dinosaurs.
Archaeopteryx, Avian Dinosaur
Modern chicken
What differences do you see between Archaeopteryx and the chicken?