A six-day-old quail embryo has hips that look identical to those of a T-rex. Chicken genes, when manipulated in the laboratory, can cause the growth of teeth. These are not anomalies; they’re evidence of a direct evolutionary line, and scientists now believe the same connection could help decode what happened inside a dinosaur’s skull.
Palaeontologist Professor Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh is leading a study exploring the possibility of predicting cognitive behavior through brain organization in the fossilized skull of ancient creatures. The hypothesis behind the theory is clear in that some bird species have demonstrated tool use and forethought.
From laboratory experiments, scientists found that emus had the ability to understand that other creatures can experience experiences that are not the same as theirs.
“We cannot subject T rex to those tests,” Brusatte said. “But if there are some distinguishing features of the brain that tell you maybe with 95% certainty that the animal with that kind of brain today is capable of that kind of behavior, then we can at least make predictions about these fossils.”
The asteroid impact 66 million years ago killed most dinosaur species. There is one type of dinosaur that survives to this day: the ancestors of today’s birds. “I don’t think it has fully penetrated the popular consciousness that birds are dinosaurs,” he said. “They’re real, real dinosaurs. This isn’t a twist.”
The evolutionary features of birds, such as their feathers, wings and beaks, have nothing to do with flight. Most likely, feathers evolved for reasons of insulation, while wings could have originated from an exhibition structure. The flight, in turn, seemed almost coincidental.
These surviving birds possessed unique traits: good flight, rapid growth and, perhaps most importantly, they had toothless beaks that could feed on seeds from the ground even years after forests had fallen to dust due to the fifth mass extinction.
However, evolution created animals that took the place of the extinct creatures, such as the fearsome birds of South America, which could grow up to three meters in height, with heads as large as a horse’s and beaks that resembled hooked blades. As Brusatte says, “This was basically the reincarnation of T rex.”
Despite increasing modern threats such as bird flu, habitat destruction, glass buildings and feral cats, Brusatte remains optimistic about the long-term prospects of birds.
