NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -New work on old specimens, and the discoveries of dinosaur and early bird species in the field, supported the idea that dinosaurs were the direct ancestors of birds. Many features and behaviours that characterise living birds were also found in their dinosaur ancestors.

Detailed explanation-2: -The strong evidence doesn’t just come from fossilised bones and similarities found across the skeleton, but from fossilised soft tissue – especially feathers. Many dinosaurs had not just some kind of body covering, but distinctive bird-like feathers.

Detailed explanation-3: -For decades, paleontologists’ only fossil link between birds and dinosaurs was archaeopteryx, a hybrid creature with feathered wings but with the teeth and long bony tail of a dinosaur.

Detailed explanation-4: -The fossil record provides a history of life on Earth. It includes some organisms with features that are intermediate, or transitional, between major groups. Evidence that birds are descended from theropod dinosaurs includes shared anatomical features, as well as inferred physiological and behavioral similarities.

Detailed explanation-5: -Complete answer: The fossil Archaeopteryx is the connecting link between the reptiles and birds. It looks like birds but has many other features like reptiles. It was a flightless bird which shows the characters of both reptiles and birds. Scales are present.