Steve Brusatte on the Dinosaurs That Survived the Asteroid
Birds are the only dinosaurs alive today. How do we know that birds are dinosaurs? Why did this one branch survive when so many others, including most birds themselves, did not? And what does the fossil record actually tell us?
Steve Brusatte has traced the evolutionary transition from ground-living theropod dinosaurs to modern birds, drawing on the spectacular feathered fossils unearthed over the past three decades in northeastern China. He is the author of The Story of Birds, published earlier this year and is Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh.
Podcast Illustrations
Images Courtesy of Steve Brusatte unless otherwise indicated.
Dinosaur Family Tree
Birds are nested within the dinosaur family tree. Specifically, all modern birds evolved from the crown group birds (Neornithes). Other birds that did not survive the asteroid impact 66 million years ago include Archeopteryx, Enantiornithes, and Hesperornis and Icthyornis.
Sinosauropteryx, the first discovered feathered dinosaur. Discovered in China in 1996, the dinosaur’s body was covered by as halo of fluff btu the creature was not a bird and certainly cold not fly. (Description on page 55 ff). [Archaeopteryx was the earliest bird.]