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Celebrate Urban . . . dinosaurs?

1/18/2015

4 Comments

 
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    Common backyard dinosaurs have been appearing in the news lately as genetic studies have led to the revision of the bird family tree. The January issue of SN (Science News) features an article that discusses current research into avian evolution; we can now say that birds are dinosaurs (rather than birds evolved from dinosaurs) based on the findings!
    Patrick, on Paleocave blog, sums it up nicely, "
Birds are dinosaurs not just because they evolved from dinosaurs, but because they are more closely related to some of the extinct dinosaurs than those dinosaurs are to each other! So next time that someone tells you that dinosaurs are extinct, you can tell them that, actually, there are probably more species of dinosaur alive today than there were in the Mesozoic!"
    Another interesting tidbit from Kent University's BioScience department: chickens and turkeys
have the most similar overall chromosome pattern to its avian dinosaur ancestor (a great conversation-starter next Thanksgiving). This, of course, leads me to Jack Horner, renowned paleontologist, and his TED talk Building a Dinosaur from a Chicken.

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It appears that reverse-engineering a chicken could result in a dinosaur. Sean Carroll, author of Endless Forms Most Beautiful, and molecular biologist at the UW-Madison, states in a WIRED article (2011), "Every cell of a turkey carries the blueprints for making a tyrannosaurus, but the way the plans get read changes over time as the species evolves".

This leads to the question:
why would you want a chicken with teeth?

The revised Avian Family Tree

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Avian Family Tree by Erich Jarvis et al. "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds"; Science, Dec 2014
4 Comments
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8/31/2018 08:06:07 am

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Tracey
10/12/2018 10:14:12 am

Thanks so much for peeking! Do come back.

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Michael link
12/1/2021 11:42:43 pm

Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.

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Tracey Byrne
12/2/2021 08:19:44 am

Thanks!

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    Tracey Byrne~

    I taught K-12 students from north of the Arctic Circle to the Puget Sound Ecoregion, garnering  40 years of experience as a classroom teacher, learning mentor, and private tutor. 

    I spent most of the 1980s and 90s in Alaska flying airplanes, floating wild rivers, winter camping, teaching, parenting, and living off the grid. 

    Here in Seattle, I am an advocate for environmental stewardship, place-based education, and outdoor play. I share my enthusiasm for birds, bugs, and backyards and have been a featured writer and photographer for Pacific Horticulture. 
    ​

    All photographs © T. Byrne unless otherwise noted.

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