Why 'birds' didn't die out with the dinosaurs: Feathered ancestors pecked on seeds to survive the mass extinction

为什么鸟类没有和恐龙一起灭绝?祖先啄食种子逃过大绝灭
Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline

Some ancestors of  birds survived the asteroid impact 66 million years ago[CN]

一些鸟类祖先从6600万年前的小行星撞击存活下来。

These creatures evolved into the birds that populate the world today[CN]

这些物种进化成了鸟类,如今遍靡全球。

May have survived by pecking on seeds, which didn't die like plants[CN]

它们可能通过啄食种子,才不像植物那样死去。

Theory may explain why there are no modern birds with teeth-lined beaks[CN]

理论还揭示了现代鸟类嘴巴没有牙齿的原因。

336774EE00000578-0-image-a-149_1461257235930.jpg

Seed-eaters with toothless beaks (illustrated) outlived the dinosaurs because of their diet[CN]

没有牙齿的种子啄食者(如图)因饮食问题比恐龙活的要长。

3367FDB400000578-0-image-a-151_1461257261693.jpg

Pecking at seeds may have helped ancestors of modern birds survive the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs (illustrated), scientists believe[CN]

科学家坚信,啄食种子帮助现代鸟类祖先逃过了灭绝恐龙的大灾难。

334C75CA00000578-3552310-New_statistical_analysis_suggest_that_dinosaurs_may_have_been_in-a-50_1461258758675.jpg

New statistical analysis suggest that dinosaurs may have been in a state of decline for millions of years before the asteroid strike 66 million years ago, and that a lack of diversity may have ultimately led to their extinction[CN]

新的数据分析显示,早在6600万年前小行星撞击事件之前,恐龙的数量就一直锐减了好几百万年。缺乏多样性很可能最终导致了它们的灭亡。

334C75D200000578-3552310-The_analysis_revealed_that_there_were_a_few_dinosaurs_which_buck-a-51_1461258758699.jpg

The analysis revealed that there were a few dinosaurs which bucked the declining trend. Hadrosaurs, the 'sheep or rats' of the dinosaur world, became more specialised and were branching off into new species at a higher rate than going extinct. Pictured are Parasaurolophus, which emerged more than 76 million years ago[CN]

数据显示,也有一些与恐龙锐减趋势背道而驰。鸭嘴龙,恐龙世界的“小绵羊或小田鼠”,变得更特别,以更高的比率进化成了新的物种,避免了灭绝。图为副栉龙,出现时间早于7600万年前。

Pecking at seeds may have helped ancestors of modern birds survive the cataclysm that wiped out the dinosaurs, scientists believe.[CN]

科学家坚信,啄食种子帮助现代鸟类祖先逃过了灭绝恐龙的大灾难。

Small bird-like dinosaurs vanished along with giants such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops after a huge meteor smashed into the Earth 66 million years ago.

But some of them survived until the end of the Cretaceous period and instead evolved into the birds that populate the world today.


They were the seed-eaters with toothless beaks, new evidence suggests.

The theory could explain why no bird alive today has a beak lined with teeth.

Lead researcher Derek Larson, from the University of Toronto in Canada, said: ‘The small bird-like dinosaurs in the Cretaceous, the maniraptoran dinosaurs, are not a well-understood group.

‘They're some of the closest relatives to modern birds, and at the end of the Cretaceous, many went extinct, including the toothed birds - but modern crown-group birds managed to survive the extinction.

‘The question is, why did that difference occur when these groups were so similar?’

The scientists began their investigation by analysing collected data on more than 3,000 fossilised teeth from four different maniraptoran families - a clade of dinosaurs that includes birds.

They found maniraptoran diversity continued right up to the end of the Cretaceous, suggesting a sudden extinction due to a catastrophic event.

The team suspected that diet might have played a part in the survival of lineages that produced today's birds.

Using published research about modern birds, including dietary information and inter-species relationships, the scientists inferred what their Cretaceous cousins might have eaten.

They hypothesised in the study published in the journal Current Biology that the last common ancestor of today's birds was a toothless seed-eater with a beak.

‘Some groups of beaked birds may have been able to survive the extinction event because they were able to eat seeds,’ Mr Larson said.

The massive asteroid or comet strike would have temporarily altered the Earth's climate and blotted out the sun with dust.

Widespread vegetation loss would have robbed many plant-eating animals of their food source, and in turn large predators would have gone hungry.

But hardy seeds may have sustained the small toothless birds until the world began to recover.

WERE DINOSAURS ALREADY ON THEIR WAY OUT BEFORE THE ASTEROID?

They ruled the Earth for more than 180 million years before apparently disappearing in a catastrophic asteroid impact.

But the dinosaurs may have been teetering on the edge long before the impact from space that has been credited with wiping them out  66 million years ago, according to a new study.

Researchers suggest the kings of the prehistoric world had in fact been been in a state of decline for millions of years, and that a lack of diversity may have ultimately led to their extinction.

While many believe the dinosaurs were going strong right up to the asteroid impact, the new analysis suggests that they may have already been dwindling for up to 50 million years earlier.

Indeed, the researchers say their slow demise may have enabled the earliest mammals to diversify just enough to be primed and ready to step into the gap left by the reptiles when the asteroid hit.

Using statistical analysis of the dinosaur family tree, researchers from the universities of Reading and Bristol carried out a study to compare the evolutionary dead ends against the fossil record.

Rather than going strong right up to the world-changing asteroid impact, their analysis showed that the number of new species of dinosaur emerging couldn't keep up with those dying out, so dinosaurs were becoming less diverse overall.

This reached a critical point almost 24 million years before the asteroid hit, when species were becoming extinct at a faster rate than new ones were coming into existence.

Dr Chris Venditti, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading and senior author of the study, told MailOnline: 'What that means is that up to 50 million years before the dinosaurs went extinct because of the asteroid impact, the rate of speciation had fallen behind the rate of extinction.

'They were starting to dwindle, dinosaurs couldn't replace themselves with new species at the rate at which they were dying out.'

'That goes in the face of… all the other evidence which has been proposed for the scenario in which they were reigning strong right up until the time of the impact.'

国外网友评论 0人跟帖    4328人参与

JayFelms

Evolution is wonderful, if only religion would die out, it what evolve the human race to truly understand the world.[CN]

进化是很奇妙的,只要宗教自行消亡,就是促使人类更清楚的认识世界。

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Moon BirdReply toJayFelms

Religion is faith. Science is a separate issue. We are still learning what happened and how species evolved.[CN]

宗教是一种信仰。科学是一个不同的话题。我们还在探索发生过的事和物种如何演变的。

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PhilReply toJayFelms

Religion is for the simple minded[CN]

宗教就是为头脑简单的人准备的。

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GalahadReply toJayFelms

Religion also evolves, regularly. Judaism, for instance, evolved into Christianity, Orthodox, Reform, etc. Christianity then evolved into Catholic, Orthodox and a bunch of other varieties, to include Protestantism. Along the way, it and Judaism evolved into the religion first found in Mec ca; then IT evolved into a number of different varieties.[CN]

宗教也一直在演变啊。比如犹太教,进化成基督教,东正教,宗教改革等等. 基督教又分化成天主教,东正教和其他一大串教别,包括新教。长路漫漫,它和犹太教演化成了麦城首先出现的宗教;然后IT进化成了不同的类别。

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DayoftheLordcomethReply toJayFelms

The love of God will save you, the unrepentant will answer for all their destruction of Gods creatures and people's. God gives us new bodies, God can save what he pleases-he is the Almighty! Seek him fast, keep his ways. These theories are just that! Those who attempt to steal Gods thinder will receive it.[CN]

上帝之爱会拯救你,不知悔改者上帝将毁灭他们的物种和人群。上帝给我我们新的身体,上帝可以拯救他喜爱的东西,上帝是万能的。追随他的脚步,遵守他的道。这些理论正是如此。试图偷窃上帝权威的回遭天谴的。

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DayoftheLordcomethReply toJayFelms

Religion (Union with the Spirit), is for those true in heart and who keep his word! I have heard God and seen the future, a mountain with water spewing over it and city, town, village lost to the waves, the current changing direction. Repent and love God! Keep his ways, or become dust in the wind.[CN]

宗教(精神的联合体),是给那些内心坚信,矢意践行的人的。我听了上帝的启示,看到了未来。高山流水,城市,城镇,乡村在洪浪中湮没,这就是目前的转向。向上帝忏悔,热爱上帝吧,遵守他的布道,或者成为风中尘埃。

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lynReply toJayFelms

dayofthelord---could you please answer a question? Why did god demand a sacrifice to save us from a hell he created? Why did he sacrifice himself to himself to change rules that he created? None of this has ever made sense to me. God is omnipotent and so would know what the outcome for himself was going to be before he had himself sacrificed. So really, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. A bit like me cutting of my hair, knowing full well its just going to grow back. Why demand a death to change rules that he made?[CN]

Dayofthelord, 能回答个问题吗?为什么上帝要我们舍得牺牲才救我们,况且地狱还是他造出来的?为什么他又牺牲自己来改变他亲手创下的规则?这些我从来就想不通。上帝是万能的,所以没牺牲前他就该知道自己的结局了。所以,这算个毛牺牲。就像我剪掉头发,知道它们还会长出来一样。为什么一定要用死来改变自己制定的规矩?

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Sarah

Thanks for pointing out that the picture of the dinosaur is illustrated and not an actual photo.[CN]

谢谢你指出这些恐龙照片是合成,不是真正的照片。

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Chippy316

Err....pretty sure the birds with teeth would have been happy to feast on the obviously plentiful seed eating birds.[CN]

额…有齿的鸟儿肯定很享受这些明显只吃各种种子的鸟儿。

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Moon BirdReply toChippy316

Most of the dinosaurs were not carnivores. The seed eating birds must have been very small and then gradually evolved.[CN]

大部分恐龙不是食肉动物。只吃种子的鸟儿肯定很小,然后慢慢进化。

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EndApostropheAbuse

The Christians who believe in Noah's Ark and that the universe and our world is only 6,000-10,000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs co-inhabited the world at that time won't be having any of this.[CN]

基督徒相信诺亚方舟的传说 – 我们的宇宙和世界只有6,000-10,000年,那时人类和恐龙和平共存不会发生这种事情。

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Moon Bird

Birds are so clever. They are survivors and fly halfway round the world and back again to the exact same spot every year.[CN]

鸟类很聪明的。它们是幸存者,飞过大半个世界,每年又回到相同的栖息点。

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LameduckReply toMoon Bird

Come to think of it, so do we when we jet off to the Azores for our hols.[CN]

想想,我们飞去亚速尔群岛独家不也一样吗?

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Jenny

Was looking up at the planet Jupiter shining brightly beside the moon and was thinking how remarkable and miraculous our little planet is; the countless species, civilisations, eras and ages its gone through. The history or backstory of all the other planets in the solar system are incomparable to earths. Its kind of mind boggling! Only for a series of cataclysmic events, earth as we know it or people wouldn't exist. Its awesome![CN]

看着木星在月亮旁边闪耀,想着我们地球是如此非凡和不可思议。数不尽的物种,文明,时代,年代都已成过去。太阳系其他所有星球的历史或者后历史都不能和地球比拟。真是难以置信!我们知道,地球也经历了一系列的灾难事件,不然人类存活不了。太赞了!

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bewilderedone

Load of rubbish about eating seeds...Trill didnt come out until the early 50`s[CN]

关于吃种子说了一大堆废话…这些鸟直至早期50年代才出现…

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CyKosisReply tobewilderedone

Yeah, but there were boat loads of cuttlefish bones...[CN]

是的,也有船装载着一大堆鱼骨头啊…

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Surfers

Just making it up as they go along, aren't they?[CN]

它们的发展路程都是编出来的,不是吗?

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hungry birdsReply toSurfers

No.[CN]

不是

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sick n tired

This is based purely on guesswork. It is in these scientists interests to keep making this stuff up so they get paid![CN]

这纯粹就是猜的。这是科学家们的兴趣,编造一些东西来骗钱。

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Jonathan FrameReply tosick n tired

It's not guess work. It's science! Better look up the definition of science.[CN]

不是瞎猜,是科学。还是查查科学的定义吧

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skyguyReply tosick n tired

Your name shows your mental state...and ignorance.[CN]

你的名字暴露了你的智商…和无知。

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Tuna SandwichReply tosick n tired

Hypothesis: McDonalds' junior staff do not have the faintest idea how scientific grants are allocated.[CN]

假设:麦当劳的底层员工根本不知道科学的拨款是如何分配的。

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Simon

Surely the meat eating birds would also be alive as they could eat the seed eating birds?[CN]

吃籽鸟类都可以存活,那肉食鸟类更活的下去啊。

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happyfamily1

At this time of year crows are landing on lamb's heads, poking their eyes and tongues out. Sad but true. Nature can be so cruel and crows are so crafty.[CN]

每年这个时候,乌鸦就停在小羊羔的头上,啄它们的眼睛和舌头出来。很悲伤但很真实。大自然是很残酷的,乌鸦太狡猾了。

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Littleenglander

That might explain how the birds survived but what about crocodiles, they didn't eat seeds. So a bit of a flaw in their argument I think.[CN]

那可以解释鸟儿存活,那鳄鱼呢?它们不吃籽啊。我想这争论还是有瑕疵的。

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jonesey359Reply toLittleenglander

Crocodiles lived in water, and ate fish, so they survived. And of course the fish themselves survived. It was just many of the land plants that became rare, so many plant eating land dinasours died out, and also the carnivorous dinosaurs which fed on them. Our ancestors, the small mammals, also survived of course.[CN]

鳄鱼生活在水中,吃鱼就可以了,所以它们存活了下来。当然了鱼儿也存活了下来。只是路上的植物变得稀少了,很多草食恐龙因此绝迹,肉食动物没有草食动物吃了也灭绝了。我们的祖先,小哺乳动物,当然也存活了下来。

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Jon HunterReply toLittleenglander

Also, crocs can go years without food as they have a very low metabolism.[CN]

还有,鳄鱼新陈代谢低,几年不吃东西都没事。

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CyKosisReply toLittleenglander

Some people make me despair. How do you even get dressed in the mornings, Little Englander?[CN]

有些人让我绝望啊。Little Englander,你早上到底是怎么穿好衣服的?

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they do make it up

As scientists believe,they make it up as they go along to make way for more funding to make more up[CN]

像科学家坚信的那样,他们编造故事,继续赚钱来编更多的故事。

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PhilReply tothey do make it up
Stupid is as stupid posts :D
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Jim
Goodness. What about owls though? They eat mice not blooming seeds.
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HumanistReply toJim
E - V - O - L - U - T - I - O - N
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wiseandwonderfulReply toJim
That's like saying, how come dinosaurs died out but sheep didn't! They weren't around then, and neither were owls. The survivors were tiny and have evolved into what we see today.
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Number4Reply toJim
Evolutionists are sheep. Believing in something that is impossible.
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Saint SteveReply toJim
F-A-I-R-Y-T-A-L-E
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PhilReply toJim
Number4 - Creationist are mind numbingly ignorant
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DayoftheLordcomethReply toJim
Phil. You are ignorant and blind and have a nasty attitude to that which you don't understand. Is your life straight? If it was, you would know him and have faith, judge not chap!
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LameduckReply toJim
Boy, education in this country sure has fell off a cliff.
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VonHammer
Still with the stupid meteor rubbish give it a rest...
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crewza
As if a Golden Eagle and the like pecked on Seeds.+.
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Willie EkerslikeReply tocrewza
I give up..
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wiseandwonderfulReply tocrewza
Golden Eagles weren't around then. Ever heard of evolution? All that is alive today came from much smaller creatures ... even us.
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basicboyukReply tocrewza
Golden eagles evolved from other birds over thousands of years. But ten dislikes tells me this is lost on many
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FreddyBear
Check out creationresearch.net for the Truth.
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Steve 64Reply toFreddyBear
Or if you fancy a good laugh...
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hungry birdsReply toFreddyBear
Oh dear.
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pinky pony
and all of the mammals survived because they were underground......eating seeds................the reality is that in a mass extinction the only survivors are either seperrated from the event.....are adaptable.....have a high birthrate...............or are just very lucky.
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Stokey boyReply topinky pony
Or hadn't read the Bible.
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starlight
I thought some species of geese had teeth
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Don QuixoteReply tostarlight
Indeed, vestigial teeth. DM science articles are just random collections of scientific nonsense to break up the monotony of political and celebrity nonsense.
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starlight
Interesting that these "scientific facts" that have "disproved" religion seem to change every year. What was scientific fact last year is suddenly completely wrong and the new theory has to be believed. Until the next "proof" appears!
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NAReply tostarlight
Yes it's called research. Which means that our scientific knowledge progresses and changes as we continue to develop different and more advanced technology to learn new things. Unlike religion which just remains a story.
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NigelsquareReply tostarlight
NA, many religions, such as Humanism (of which evolution is the origins story) are indeed false, but Christianity is based on historical places, people and events. History does not change. The Bible is full of eye-witness history and is therefore trustworthy and accurate. And it doesn't need to be changed, neither has it been. It remains for all time God's Word.
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Tuna SandwichReply tostarlight
Oh look, Nigelsquare is trotting out the 'affirming the consequent' logical fallacy AGAIN! Spiderman is set in New York City. New York City is a real place. Therefore, according to Nigelsquare, Spiderman is real!
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