• GrymEdm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    Possible translation: “Wings don’t matter” - the only type of dinosaur (avian) to survive to present day.

    • Liz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      3 months ago
      1. Birds are not descended from Pterodactyls
      2. Birds are not descended from T-Rex
      3. Pterodactyls aren’t even dinosaurs
      4. Mildly related, but popular depictions of dinosaurs never include birds, which is somewhat wrong. Birds evolved about 150 million years ago, while the dinosaurs evolved about 250 million years ago and died out 66 million years ago. So birds and dinos coexisted for quite a while.
      5. Even less related, it’s my personal opinion that we really shouldn’t consider birds to be dinosaurs. Like, sure, in a “are they in a clade together?” sense, they’re dinos. But in that sense, I’m a fish. It’s only a useful statement so long as everyone understands how useless it actually is.
      6. Boy this really got out of hand, didn’t it?
      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        3 months ago

        we really shouldn’t consider birds to be dinosaurs. Like, sure, in a “are they in a clade together?” sense, they’re dinos. But in that sense, I’m a fish. It’s only a useful statement so long as everyone understands how useless it actually is.

        Couldn’t agree more if I tried for a week non stop. Spot on!

        Birds evolved about 150 million years ago, while the dinosaurs evolved about 250 million years ago and died out 66 million years ago. So birds and dinos coexisted for quite a while

        Huh! Didn’t know that! Thanks! 🫶

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        Birds are not descended from T-Rex

        Although… birds are theropods and so was the T-Rex.

        As for why they’re theropods? There’s very little difference skeletally between them and theropod dinosaurs.