From a Predator to a Chicken

Not all dinosaurs may have completely gone extinct. Some may have evolved into birds. This is what scientists have hypothesized based on similarities between fossils and bird skeletons.

There is a new piece of evidence released in an upcoming issue of the journal Science suggesting birds did evolve from dinosaurs. Protein fragments taken from a T. rex fossil tested against amino acids in other animals revealed chicken amino acids compared most favorably. 

Such a discovery is amazing, but not solely because such a large fearsome predator is connected to such scrumptious human prey. What is most amazing is that researchers were able to get the dinosaur protein out of a 68 million year old fossil. Previously, scientists thought proteins in fossils would be replaced by minerals within 1 million years.

Recommended Videos