Do dinosaurs exist in our time, do dinosaurs exist in our time. Modern birds are close relatives of dinosaurs Scientists about dinosaur relatives today
We think we own the heavens. But a group of creatures capable of flight remains the object of envy air force created by man. These birds are descendants of dinosaurs. They inhabit all ecosystems the globe including the interior of Antarctica.
Origin of birds long time remained the subject of lively debate. Over the foreseeable period of time, several scientific versions of the origin and family ties birds and the emergence of their flight, and for more than a hundred years they were purely hypothetical.
1. A heron on a fishing trip. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):
The hypothesis about the origin of birds from dinosaurs was first put forward in 1868 by Thomas Huxley. It was based on a comparison of the structure of Archeopteryx, an animal that lived about 150 million years ago in the Upper Jurassic. He had the characteristics of a typical reptile - special structure pelvis and ribs, teeth, clawed feet and a long, lizard-like tail. At the same time, the fossils had well-preserved imprints of flight wings, similar to those of modern birds.
2. A flock of white geese. (Photo by Jim Scalzo):
Birds have a lot in common with dinosaurs common features in skeletal structure. Among the possible closest relatives of birds, avimim is also considered - a small predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period.
3. Pelican feeds her cubs. (Photo by Monika Skkolimowska):
The first attempt to systematize animals was made in the 4th century BC. e. the Greek scientist Aristotle - in his writings "On the Parts of Animals" and "On the Origin of Animals", he singled out all the birds known to him in the "higher genus" Ornithes. Despite the obvious imperfection of this system, up to the second half of XVII centuries, new attempts to classify the animal world have not been made. Only to late XIX century, new research laid the foundation for contemporary ideas about the bird class system.
4. Heron. (Photo by Biju Boro):
Birds are everywhere, even in Antarctica. For example, the snow petrel nests in the depths of this continent at a distance of up to 440 km from the coast. Along the edges of the Antarctic Shield, penguins nest in places (Imperial, Adélie), giant petrel, south polar skua.
5 Sandhill Cranes (Photo by Sam Greenwood):
Birds also inhabit the most waterless deserts and mountains, up to the border of eternal snows. During migrations, flocks of flying geese and cranes were sometimes observed at an altitude of 7000-9000 m. In 1973, an African vulture collided with a civilian aircraft over Côte d'Ivoire at an altitude of 11,277 meters.
6. Gray heron on a fishing trip. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):
Several families of birds have adapted to life at sea. Some species of penguins dive to a depth of 300 m, and according to other information, emperor penguin can reach a depth of 535 meters.
7. Tricolored heron. Chick. (Photo by Rhona Wise):
It is the ability to fly that determines the characteristics of this class of animals, although there is a relatively small number (about 60 species) of flightless or almost flightless birds, in the course of evolution one way or another lost the ability to fly, which their ancestors had.
8 Pelicans (Photo by Amir Cohen):
Flight requires a very large expenditure of muscle energy, so the metabolic rate of birds is extremely high and the need for food is great: its daily rate is 12-28% total mass body. If we project these data onto a person, then a 70-kilogram character would have to eat up to 20 kg of food per day, if he were a bird.
9. A duckling is hiding from the rain. (Photo by David L. Ryan):
All species of birds are characterized by the presence of feathers that are not found in other modern animals. Feathers cover the entire body of the bird, with the exception of the beak and distal parts of the hind limbs. It is believed that feathers originated as a result of evolutionary transformations of reptile scales.
10. Gray heron. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):
How many feathers does a bird have? Total number feathers large species more than small ones. For example, hummingbirds have about 1,000 feathers, gulls have up to 6,000, and swans have 25,000.
11. Robins are waiting for their parents in the nest. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst):
The pen is an almost perfect mechanism. It provides the possibility of flight, forming bearing planes (wings, tail), and creates a streamlined body. Feathers protect the skin from mechanical damage. The waterproof and heat-shielding functions of the plumage are very effective.
12. Stilts. (Photo by Sam Yeh):
Like any perfect mechanism, feathers require careful maintenance, and birds spend about 9% of their daily time cleaning their feathers, bathing and dust bathing.
13. Stork. (Photo by Rhona Wise):
Dinosaur descendants don't smell. They do not have sweat glands. Cooling of the body is achieved with the help of a highly developed respiratory system. Birds also cool down when they are in the shade or in the water.
14. Herons. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):
No teeth. It is interesting that modern birds lack teeth - they are partly replaced by the sharp edges of the beak, with which birds capture, hold and sometimes crush food. In connection with the loss of teeth, the task of crushing food was transferred to the stomach.
15. Canada geese. Fight. (Photo by David L. Ryan):
The respiratory system of birds is also characterized by signs of adaptation to flight. This organ system in birds is considered one of the most complex among all animal groups. The more intense the flapping flight, the more intense the breathing process.
16. Small godwit. (Photo by Chris Purnell):
The pulse is also high in birds, and in flight, in comparison with rest, the pulse increases markedly. So, in a sparrow at rest, the pulse is about 460 beats / min, and in flight - about 1000 beats / min!
17. Heron's nest. (Photo by Anupam Nath):
Birds are not stupid animals. A well-developed brain allows birds to produce complex shapes behavior and adapt to different situations. The most striking demonstration of the mental abilities of birds is the teaching of songbirds to sing, the repetition of human speech by parrots, the methods of obtaining food in a number of species, and the ability of corvids to solve complex problems offered to them in special experiments.
18. 3 small swans. (Photo by Matt Campbell):
The eyes are the most powerful bird apparatus. Many birds see well into the distance (the peregrine falcon is able to see a small bird at a distance of more than 1 km). In some species, the field of view reaches almost 360 °. Vision in birds is noticeably sharper than in other groups of vertebrates - this is explained by a significantly large number of light-sensitive cells in the retina.
19. Dove. (Photo by Dominique Faget):
Sound signals are in the life of birds exclusively importance. They ensure the protection of the feeding and nesting territory from the invasion of strangers, attracting a female to breed offspring, warning relatives and chicks about impending danger. In the language of birds, there are dozens sound signals(calamity, caution, food, courtship, mating, aggressive, flocking, nesting, and so on).
Some birds, such as lyrebirds, have a phenomenal ability to imitate all sorts of sounds, ranging from the voices of birds, animals, humans, and ending with various man-made sounds, including playing the flute and even the sounds of car alarms and chainsaws.
20. Goose family. (Photo by Tom Dorsey):
Flight! The flight of birds is usually divided into two main types: active (waving) and passive (soaring). Birds usually use not one type of flight, but combine them. The flapping of the wings is followed by phases when the wing does not move: this is a gliding flight, or soaring. Such a flight is characteristic mainly for birds of medium and large sizes, with sufficient body weight. Hovering in place relative to ambient air is challenging task for birds. In fact, hummingbirds are the only group of birds adapted to this.
Birds move along branches, land and water with the help of their hind legs. And also, any bird does not sink in water and swim if necessary.
21. A gray heron is fishing. (Photo by Attila Kovacs):
The migratory routes of some birds consist of many segments between which the birds rest and look for food. The reasons for bird migration are seasonal changes in the environment. Absolute Champion according to the range of migrations, they consider the arctic tern, migrating seasonally from the Arctic to the Antarctic, overcoming a distance of up to 70-90 thousand km in a year! Also, one of the longest migrations in the world, lasting up to 26 thousand km, is made by the round-nosed phalarope.
Observation of the flight of birds prompted people to invent the first aircraft, and its further study continues to influence the development of modern aviation.
22. White stork nest on a cell tower. (Photo by Paul Hanna):
Everyone loved dinosaurs as a child, and almost everyone just adored Jurassic Park. But not many people know that almost everything that tells us about dinosaurs Mass culture- not true. In this compilation, we have collected the most popular misconceptions about dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were the most big creatures that ever existed on earth 
First, not all dinosaurs were big. Of course, some of them reached quite serious sizes. But these were isolated species. In addition to them, there were many less impressive dinosaurs, the size of a sheep, dog or chicken, for example. The smallest of known to science dinosaurs weighed about 200 grams. Secondly: you will be surprised, but the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth is our contemporary with you - this is the blue whale. So if you were upset that you could never see a live megaladon, you have every chance of seeing a much larger giant alive.
All dinosaurs lived in the tropics 
This myth stems from the fact that the climate used to be much warmer than it is now. And based on this, some seriously believe that almost all the land was then covered with thick rainforests. In reality, of course, this is not the case. During the existence of dinosaurs, however, as now, there were already deserts, and plains, and ordinary forests, and jungles on Earth, of course. Moreover, over the millions of years that dinosaurs walked on our planet, the landscape, like the climate, has constantly changed. And dinosaurs successfully mastered the entire spectrum of ecosystems.
Dinosaurs were dumb creatures with tiny brains. 
To judge the intelligence of creatures that lived 100 million years ago, of which only petrified remains have survived, is an extremely thankless task. The only thing we can know more or less exactly is the size of their brains. And, of course, it was different for all dinosaurs, as in absolute value and relative to body size. The same stegosaurus, often ridiculed for its tiny brain, actually had a brain the size of Walnut and weighing about 70 grams. On the other hand, our favorite four-legged friends, dogs, have brains that are about the same size. But dogs weigh a maximum of 100 kilograms, which is 20 times less than a stegosaurus weighed. But the brain of a tyrannosaurus rex, for example, was three times larger than the brain of a dolphin. But in terms of body size, it roughly corresponds to the brain of modern reptiles.
The Jurassic period is the "golden age" of the dinosaurs. 
Well, firstly: the greatest diversification of dinosaur varieties, according to statistical studies, was not in the Jurassic, but in the late Cretaceous. And secondly: even this obvious diversity is nothing more than an illusion, since it is precisely the rocks of the Late Cretaceous that are currently in more studied than the breeds of other periods mesozoic era. So while with full certainty it is impossible to say when there were more dinosaurs.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is the largest carnivore ever to walk the earth. 
Once again, a myth to which we are entirely indebted to popular culture. The Tyrannosaurus rex has become so often mentioned that it has practically become the personification of the brand in general for all dinosaurs. It’s just that with the word “dinosaur”, most will imagine either a tyrannosaurus rex or a triceratops in their head. So it is the tyrannosaurus rex that is often called the largest and most dangerous of all known to science. ground predators. We will return to its danger, but for now let's talk about size. Today it is already absolutely certain that the tyrannosaurus rex was not the largest land predator in history. The largest skeleton found is 12.3 meters long. While the spinosaurus reached 16 meters in length. But these two giants have never met, since the tyrannosaurus rex is “younger” than its competitor by more than 30 million years. And, of course, that all these years evolution has not stood still, therefore, in many respects, the tyrannosaurus rex looks like a much more advanced “killing machine” than its more ancient counterpart.
Dinosaurs were a dead end branch of evolution 
The fact that they did not build cities and did not arrange wars for resources does not mean that they were a dead end branch of evolution. Dinosaurs were perfectly integrated into the then environment. They were the dominant species on the planet and, in fact, masters not only of the earth, but also of the air and the sea. Although objectively speaking, neither marine reptiles nor flying pangolins can be called dinosaurs, but still, they were much more related than us and dolphins, for example. And yet. Humans have been evolving for only two million years and have already come close to global crises and the threat of total destruction of themselves. While the dinosaurs evolved perfectly well for 135 million years, and if it were not for global cataclysms independent of them, they might have continued to live to this day.
In the time when dinosaurs lived, all mammals were the size of a mouse. 
No, even then there were much more major representatives order of mammals. Here, however, it is worth immediately making a reservation: depending on what is considered a large size. Of course, if we talk about the size of a mammoth, then, of course, there were no such mammals at the time of the dinosaurs. In general, the average size of mammals then did not exceed the size of a modern cat. However, even then, namely about 125-122 million years ago, there were already such mammals as repenomas, for example. It was about 1 meter long, weighed 12-14 kg, and judging by the remains found, it even ate some small dinosaurs.
All dinosaurs lived only in the equatorial region of the earth, and the finds of their remains in temperate latitudes are explained by the movement of the continents 
And again no. Yes, over the millions of years of the existence of dinosaurs, not only the climate changed, but also the landscape of the earth. But many modern finds prove that dinosaurs even lived in Antarctica. In fairness, it should be noted that in those days Australia and New Zealand were connected to Antarctica, forming one polar continent. The climate in those days, of course, was much warmer than today, but the dinosaurs who lived there still had to adapt to harsh conditions. weather conditions. In summer, the sun shone on this continent around the clock, and polar night reigned for five months of the year. It is possible that predators and herbivorous dinosaurs were in these areas in the summer, and in winter they migrated to warmer climes to the north.
Dinosaurs died out as a result of a meteorite fall 
Contrary to the assurances of many people that this is exactly what happened, this is just one version of what happened. Scientific disputes on the topic of what caused the death of dinosaurs, whether their extinction was sudden or gradual, continue to this day; there is no single point of view. It is known for certain that the extinction of the dinosaurs was only part of the so-called "great extinction" that took place at the same time. Died out with the dinosaurs marine reptiles, flying lizards, many shellfish and a huge amount of small algae. In total, 16% of families of marine animals and 18% of families of land vertebrates died. According to one of the widespread theories, the death of dinosaurs could have occurred due to relatively close to ours. solar system supernova explosion. Such an event could unleash a deadly shower of gamma rays on Earth, and the X-rays ejected by the explosion could sweep away part of earth's atmosphere, forming a hot layer at an altitude of 20-80 km above the surface of the planet.
Velociraptors could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h 
In general, the real image of a velociraptor that scientists managed to reconstruct is extremely far from what was shown to us in the Park jurassic". This is largely due to the fact that when working on the film, the basis was the reconstruction of another dinosaur - Deinonychus, which was previously classified as a genus of Velociraptors. But even the Deinonychus in the film are doubled in size compared to theirs. real size. As for real velociraptors, they were evolutionarily closer to birds, had plumage, were warm-blooded animals, reached a height of 60-70 cm and weighed about 20 kg. AT this moment there is no scientific evidence to think that velociraptors could run very fast, hunted in packs (all their remains found are separate individuals), and even more so, they had some kind of super-developed intellect. All this is nothing more than a fantasy.
Ecology
modern birds, strange as it sounds, are "living dinosaurs" with skulls remarkably similar to those of their distant dinosaur ancestors, according to new research.
At first glance, it's hard to imagine that an ordinary sparrow could have anything in common with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. After all, the first is a small bird that weighs less than 30 grams, the second is a giant creature, the size of a school bus, whose weight is neither more nor less, but about 8 tons.
Despite all their external differences, these two species of living creatures are closer relatives than many people think, scientists from Harvard reported. The researchers noticed that the evolution of birds is the result of a sharp turning point in the development of dinosaurs.
Unlike dinosaurs, which took years to reach puberty, birds did things much faster. Some species take as little as 12 weeks to become parents after they are born. This allowed them to keep physical characteristics baby dinosaurs.
"This study was interesting in that it illustrates evolution as an evolving phenomenon,- He speaks Arkhat Abzhanov, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. - By changing the biology of some species, nature has created a modern bird - a completely new creature, as well as 10 thousand of its various kinds. Birds are the most successful group of terrestrial vertebrates on the planet today."
The evolution of many characteristics of birds, such as feathers, flight, sternum scutellum, has traditionally been a difficult problem for biologists, the researchers said. Having previously analyzed the fossilized remains of bird-like dinosaurs and primitive birds, their skeletons, eggs and soft tissues, scientists realized that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs theropods, a group of carnivores that includes velociraptors. A new study has reinforced these assumptions. Scientists were presented with an example of how changes in development played important role in the origin and evolution of birds.
If you look at the skulls of modern birds and dinosaurs, at first glance it will seem that they are completely different. Dinosaurs had rather elongated snouts with rows of sharp teeth, while birds had proportionately larger eyes and brains. Despite this, the skulls of birds and dinosaurs have much more in common than it seems.
Until now, no one from the scientific world has paid special attention on the evolution of bird heads. "There have been a few small studies focused on certain sections of anatomy, but no one has looked at this issue in a general way," the researchers said. "It is interesting that many looked at the origin of certain features that made bird heads special."
To understand the question of the origin of birds, scientists used an unusual method. Using a CT scanner, they scanned dozens of skulls of modern birds and theropods (dinosaurs that are closest to birds), as well as early dinosaur species.
By noting some features, such as eye sockets, intracranial cavities and other skull bones, in each specimen, the scientists were able to trace how the skulls gradually changed shape over millions of years.
“We looked at skulls that are about 250 million years old, the skulls of archosaurs, the group from which crocodiles and alligators evolved, and the skulls of modern birds. Our goal was to study these skulls and follow how they changed to understand what really actually happened in the course of evolution" Abzanov said.
Scientists were surprised by the fact that early dinosaurs, even those that are close relatives of modern birds, went through serious morphological changes with age, when both the skulls of young and adult birds remained very similar.
"In the case of birds, we can see that the adults look almost the same as the chicks of their distant relatives." Abzanov said.
With regard to modern birds, the change is the result of a process known as progenesis, which causes animals to reach sexual maturity earlier. Unlike their dinosaur ancestors, modern birds mature much faster, so they retained the appearance of their ancestors' cubs.
The way bird skulls have changed over the course of evolution highlights the variety of evolutionary strategies that birds have used over millions of years.
Municipal Autonomous educational institution"Secondary School No. 7"
Krasnokamensk, Zabaykalsky Krai
Project Do dinosaur relatives exist today?
As part ofI Scientific and practical conference for preschoolers and junior schoolchildren"I am a researcher"
in 2018
Direction:(according to regulation)
View: medium term
Participant: Antsiferov Alexander 7 years old, 1 "A", class
Supervisor: Chukmasova Svetlana Alexandrovna (teacher of the beginning classes, corresponding to the position held)
Krasnokamensk, 2018
Stage I - Statement of the problem
Pedagogical problem
Representation of children about relatives dinosaurs.
Child problem: learn about dinosaur relatives
Adult Goal:
the formation of children's ideas about the relatives of dinosaurs.
Children's goal:
find out if dinosaur relatives exist in our time.
Tasks:
meet the ancient inhabitants of the Earth - dinosaurs;
give an idea of the conditions of life dinosaurs;
to establish the connection of living organisms in the modern world
develop the ability to independently acquire and record new knowledge in an accessible form;
develop coherent speech, memory, thinking, imagination, attention in the course of work on project.
Hypothesis:
We assume that in our time there are animals - relatives of dinosaurs. For example, giraffes, rhinos, turtles, chameleons, crocodiles.
Research methods:
Think for yourself;
Ask parents and teachers;
Observe the structure of dinosaurs and animals modern world
To make an experiment;
View educational literature;
View on the Internet.
The relevance of my research lies in the fact that the knowledge gained can help us save those species of animals that are threatened by extinction today. Perhaps the dinosaurs will be able to tell us how to save modern earth!
Visual aids
photographic materials
Stage II - creating a piggy bank
In one TV show, I heard that turtles are descendants of dinosaurs and decided to find out if this is really so, and whether other relatives of ancient dinosaurs live in our time. After all, many existing animals are similar to dinosaurs.
Our research was carried out on next plan:
Historical information about dinosaurs.
Doubles (comparison of dinosaurs with some modern animals).
Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles.
Comparing dinosaurs to birds.
Findings.
Dinosaurs (from the Greek "terrible lizards") are animals belonging to the class of reptiles.
Dinosaurs appeared on our planet about 230 million years ago, and died out 65 million years ago. The time when dinosaurs lived is called the Mesozoic era. Dinosaur remains found in sediments rocks just this time.
The last of the dinosaurs died out when terrible disaster shook the earth.
There is reason to believe that the first dinosaur remains were discovered more than 2500 years ago in the Gobi desert in Central Asia. Visiting merchants brought in Ancient Greece news of amazing and terrifying creatures. Perhaps these stories are based on finds of fossilized dinosaur skeletons. Protoceratopsians. About 1700 years ago Chinese sages a record was made that huge fossilized bones were found in the ground, which, according to the ancient sages, belonged to dragons and possessed magic power. It is likely that these were dinosaur bones. But the real discovery of ancient lizards took place only in the 19th century.
Since then, hundreds of different types of dinosaurs have been discovered. They are found on all continents, and so far every year scientists find 10 - 15 new species of ancient lizards.
Dinosaurs had many various means defense and attack. Predators used sharp claws and teeth, while their victims were often helped to survive by shells, quick legs, or simply big sizes body. One of the important means of protecting modern animals is camouflage. We do not know what coloration the dinosaurs had, but it is most likely that the skin tone and pattern on it helped the animals blend in with surrounding nature.
Dinosaurs laid eggs, just like modern turtles, crocodiles and birds. The cubs of some dinosaurs hatched from the egg already quite independent, they could fend for themselves and immediately left the nest. In other species of lizards, the offspring fed and protected the mother until the babies were old enough to take care of themselves.
About 65 million years ago, all dinosaurs suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. Trying to explain this, scientists put forward many theories. Today, experts agree that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by two catastrophes that shook the Earth.
In the last million years of the Mesozoic era, our planet experienced global change:
The earth split into continents
volcano eruption,
The fall of a huge meteorite.
All this led to a cold snap, blocking access to the earth solar heat. Not a single animal weighing more than 50 kilograms survived.
The plants died. herbivorous dinosaurs soon died of starvation, because of which the predators were left without food. By the time the atmosphere cleared, there were no more dinosaurs on our planet, only some feathered species of lizards survived.
Comparison of dinosaurs with animals.
Some animals may look like dinosaurs, but this is not enough. Skeletons and behaviors should be similar.
First I compared external image and behavioral features of the giraffe, armadillo and rhinoceros with dinosaurs.
GIRAFFE: thanks to his long neck can eat leaves from the tops of trees, like diploc.
The armadillo is covered with a bone shell, like an ankylosaurus.
The RHINO looks something like a Triceratox. He also has a large, heavy body and a horn on his nose.
So these animals are relatives of dinosaurs? No. Both the giraffe, and the armadillo, and the rhinoceros are mammals, and the dinosaurs are reptiles. Therefore, we must look among the reptiles.
Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles.
Compare turtle, crocodile with dinosaurs. modern reptiles- relatives of dinosaurs - are divided into several groups: crocodiles, caimans, lizards, turtles and snakes.
TURTLES: Turtles, as they can be seen today, appeared 200 million years ago, when humans did not yet exist, and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The archaeological remains of a 100-million-year-old turtle are no different from modern ones. There are several opinions among scientists regarding the ancestors of turtles, but most agree that the ancestors of turtles were parareptiles. They outlived the dinosaurs and survived to this day.
CROCODILE: About 250 million years ago, a group of reptiles appeared - archosaurs. From them came:
pterosaurs - aerial reptiles
dinosaurs are land reptiles
crocodiles are inhabitants of rivers and swamps.
Protosuchus, whose name means "first crocodile", lived about 200 million years ago. Looking at this animal, you might think that protosuchus is not so similar to a crocodile. It reached a length of 1 m and lived on land. He had a broad skull, a gracefully built body and long legs. He was related to a crocodile sharp teeth and "armored" back. Orthosuchus lived at about the same time as protosuchus. This short-faced reptile looked more like modern crocodiles. The legs of the orthosuchus were shorter and the toes were longer than those of the protosuchus. In the Cretaceous period, crocodiles were large and very dangerous. Deinonychus ("terrible crocodile") - a real giant - reached 14 m, that is, it was four times longer than the average modern crocodile. He hid underwater and caught dinosaurs and other animals that came to drink.
This means that crocodiles are the closest relatives of dinosaurs that have survived to our time. If you watch crocodiles - how they catch and eat prey, how they care for offspring, then you get an approximate idea of \u200b\u200bthe lifestyle of dinosaurs. For 200 million years, they have not changed much. Therefore, by studying the lifestyle of modern crocodiles, we can understand how prehistoric crocodiles lived.
Dinosaurs and other reptiles died out by the end of the Mesozoic era (65 million years ago). However, two large groups of reptiles survived. They exist even today.
These include:
Crocodiles, including real crocodiles, alligators, caimans,
Sea, land and water turtles.
Comparing dinosaurs to birds.
Birds and dinosaurs have so much in common that some scientists call them bird-feathered dinosaurs.
While researching birds, I discovered an amazing thing. The bones of the legs of birds are very similar in structure to the bones of the legs of dinosaurs - predators. Although birds are not reptiles, there are still some very important features similarities:
the feet of birds are covered with scales
birds lay eggs in hard shells
Many scientists believe that birds are the closest relatives of dinosaurs.
Archeopteryx lived 150 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. This unusual creature the size of a crow combined features of both dinosaurs and birds. With dinosaurs, he was brought together by clawed forepaws, toothy jaws and a long tail. But this "dinosaur" had feathers adapted for flight, the same as those of modern flying birds. Archeopteryx deftly climbed the branches and planned from branch to branch.
Conclusion:
Thus, by conducting research project, our hypothesis about the existence of relatives of dinosaurs in our time has been confirmed. That is, the pigeons that we feed in the parks may be the closest relatives of dinosaurs. Crocodiles and turtles are also related to dinosaurs. They evolved around the same time as the dinosaurs.
In our time, a wide variety of reptiles live on Earth. True, many of them are threatened with extinction due to the fact that people ruthlessly exterminate them for meat, bones and beautiful skins. Thus, the problem considered in this paper not only introduces us to the past, but also gives us the opportunity to think about the future.
Literature
World of dinosaurs. Moscow, Makhaon, 2011, interactive encyclopedia.
The Great Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. John Malam. Steve Parker¸ Moscow, Makhaon, 2013
Big encyclopedia of questions and answers. J. Johnson, E. Kay, K. Oliver, S. Parker and P. Railly, Moscow, Rosman, 20013
Children's illustrated encyclopedia. Moscow, Rosman, 2013 Taylor B., Smith M., Bernie D., Kent P.
Horseshoe crabs are considered to be the most ancient of the animals living on Earth today - aquatic chelicerae from the class of merostomes. There are currently four known modern look these arthropods. They live in shallow waters tropical seas South-East Asia and Atlantic coast North America. Horseshoe crabs appeared on our planet about 450 million years ago.
Cephalopods neopilina originated on Earth 355-400 million years ago. They live in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans at depths from 1800 to 6500 meters. These creatures were discovered only in 1957.
Latimeria is the only extant genus lobe-finned fish and are now considered living fossils. Now there are only two types of coelacanths - one lives in the eastern and south coast Africa, and the second was first described only in 1997-1999. near the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.
Interestingly, at the moment, scientists do not know what a young coelacanth looks like and where young fish live for the first few years of their lives - no young individuals have been identified during diving. It is believed that coelacanths originated on Earth 300-400 million years ago.
Cockroaches appeared on our planet about 320 million years ago and have been actively spreading since then - at the moment, scientists know more than 200 genera and 4500 species.
The remains of cockroaches are, along with the remains of cockroaches, the most numerous traces of insects in Paleozoic deposits.
The oldest large predator that has survived to this day is the crocodile. At the same time, it is considered the only surviving species of crurotarsi - a group that also included a number of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. It is believed that crocodiles appeared on Earth approximately 250 million years ago.
Crocodiles are common in all tropical countries, living in a variety of fresh water bodies; relatively few species are tolerant of salt water and are found in the coastal part of the seas ( nile crocodile, combed crocodile, African narrow-nosed crocodile).
The first crocodiles lived mainly on land and only later moved to life in the water. All modern crocodiles are adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle - living in water, however, they lay their eggs on land.
Small crustaceans of the branchiopod class appeared on Earth 220-230 million years ago, when dinosaurs still lived on the planet. Shields are small creatures and are rarely longer than 12 cm, however, due to unique system they managed to survive.
The fact is that shields live in stagnant water of temporary fresh water bodies, due to which they are spared from natural enemies and in their niche are at the top of the ecological pyramid.
Tuataria, a type of reptile, are the only modern representative an ancient order of beakheads. They live only on a few islands of New Zealand, despite the fact that the hatteria have already become extinct on the North and South Islands.
These reptiles grow up to 50 years old, and the average life expectancy is 100 years. It is believed that they originated on the planet 220 million years ago, and now tuatara are included in the IUCN Red List and have conservation status vulnerable kind.
The Nephila spider is not only considered the oldest on the planet - scientists believe that this genus originated about 165 million years ago, but it is also the largest web-weaving spider. These spiders live in Australia, Asia, Africa, America and the island of Madagascar.
Interestingly, fishermen collect the Nephila web, form a ball out of it, which they then throw into the water to catch the fish.