Dinosaurs Are Among Us

A new museum exhibit looks at the connections between birds and dinosaurs

The Yutyrannus dinosaur had a shaggy coat of feathers, similar to what birds have today.

Dinosaurs ruled the planet for millions of years, and they are generally believed to have gone extinct. But the reality is that modern versions of dinosaurs are all around us. Scientists have been exploring similarities between birds and dinosaurs, and new research shows that these two types of animals are directly linked.

R. MICKENS—@AMNH

The exhibit Dinosaurs Among Us is now at the American Museum of Natural History.

The connections between birds and dinosaurs are explored in a new museum exhibit called Dinosaurs Among Us at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Mark Norell, the chair of the division of paleontology at the museum, is the curator of the exhibit. He said it is based on new scientific evidence collected over the last two decades. “I think this is really going to shake up the way people think of dinosaurs,” Norell told reporters at a preview event. “One could argue that we still live in the age of dinosaurs.”

Making Connections

The exhibit includes ancient fossils and lifelike models of dinosaurs of all sizes to show the evolution of dinosaurs into birds. It examines several features that are shared between the two species, including feathers, complex brains, the shapes and sizes of eggs, and the ability to fly.

ZHAO CHUANG—COURTESY PEKING NATURAL SCIENCE ORGANIZATION

The Oviraptosaur dinosaur looks like a bird. It was small in size, and had a toothless beak and claws.

 

 

Paleontologists have discovered that many dinosaurs had feathers. Thousands of feathered dinosaur fossils have been found in China in the last 15 years, according to Norell. Today, birds are the only feathered animals alive.

Birds today make nests, lay eggs and tend to babies. Fossil research shows that some dinosaurs also laid eggs and made nests.

Also, birds have wishbones and hollow bones, which are bones that don’t weight much and allow birds to take more air into their lungs. These adaptations help with flight. Some dinosaurs had these features as well. In addition, the exhibit shows that there are many similarities between the legs, claws, and feet of dinosaurs and birds.

New Techniques

Norell noted that the research behind this exhibit is the result of advanced scientific techniques and new technologies. For example, researchers used a scanning process called computed tomography (CT) to look inside the brains of extinct dinosaurs. CTs combine many X-rays to produce a three-dimensional image.

“Modern technology tells us more than we thought we could ever know about the connections between dinosaurs and birds,” Norell said.

Can you tell me how dinosaurs and birds are alike?