Fowl Forensics: The Hips Don’t Lie


November 23, 2016
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living_turkey

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

In the old days, paleontologists classified dinosaurs into two general groups: The Ornithischian, or “Bird-hipped” and the Saurischian, or “lizard-hipped” dinosaurs. As the names suggest, the Ornithischians had hip-structures similar to modern birds and the saurischians had hips structures similar to lizards. Although modern paleontologists have been able to distinguish many more precise divisions within the dinosaur family, these two broad groups still represent an important division in the evolution of dinosaurs.

But which of these groups do you think that turkey sitting on your table evolved from…..?

As it turns out, birds descend from Saurischian dinosaurs! Over time, their hip structure evolved to look like their more distant Ornithischian cousins. This is called convergent evolution: when two species evolve similar physical traits without actually being close relatives.

Ornithischian pelvis: Pubis points backwards (like in modern birds)

ornithischia_pelvis_structure-svg

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Triceratops

Triceratops is an Ornithischian Dinosaur. Interesting fact: all Ornithischian Dinosaurs were herbivores.

Saurischian pelvis: Pubis points forward

saurischia_pelvis_structure-svg

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

t rex & struthio

T-rex was a Saurischian dinosaur. Most Saurischinas were carnivores, but not all. Sauropods are Saurischians.

Authored By Chris Wells

Adventure is my middle name. Well… actually it’s French. Literally, it’s Christopher French Wells. But the spirit of adventure lives in me, and has always inspired me to go out and seek new experiences. I’ve traveled to Europe, Mexico and South America, as well as few places in the U.S. I’ve seen different places with different cultures, learned some things about humanity and about myself in particular. My goal is to lend my unique perspective, carved out of my own triumphs and tragedies, fears and fancies encountered during my years of college and international travel, to the other great voices of this blog. Hopefully to the enjoyment of our readers…


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