From Dinosaur to Bird: Evolution of the Beak

In this video we investigate how the beak evolved in birds - an amazing journey which began with the dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era.
Made by Team Wolfpack, an intrepid group of students at NUI Galway for the class History of Life:
Bláthnaid McKevitt, Rebecca O'Connor, Alida Zauers & John Ward
We hope you enjoy watching!

[@TaiganTundra]

I wish the Internet would've been around when I was a kid, I could've learned so much more.

[@germantalamoni4818]

Do not wearry I do not see that internet is usefull to diferenciate true info vs true fake news. You did not have INTERNET so you probably have less dificulty identifying true info .

[@SoulDelSol]

@@germantalamoni4818 good point!

[@WuestDennis]

I use to study ducks. That is until I got addicted to quack.

[@mrbigoofs9820]

Ayyyyyyy

[@Deeznutz93738]

Ayy if you really studied duck, im curious how did they get webbed feet

[@RandallWilks]

*EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION - The Predictive Ability of the Theory - Part II* The best test of any scientific theory is its usefulness as a predictive tool. In that respect, the Theory of Evolution performs admirably. The Theory of Evolution would predict that, IF birds evolved from dinosaurs, there should be a progression of derived traits in dinosaurs leading up to the origin of birds and that is exactly what we see. Perhaps the most complete transitional sequence in the fossil record is that from dinosaurs to birds. Birds didn’t just evolve from dinosaurs overnight, but the features of birds evolved one by one; first light bones and bipedal locomotion, then feathers, then a wishbone, then more complex feathers that look like quill-pen feathers, then wings. Yes, wings evolved before flight. Just as there are birds today such as ostriches, emus, rheas, etc. that no longer fly, yet still use their wings for other purposes, there were winged theropod dinosaurs that may have used them to shelter young, for mating displays, or intimidating a predator or rival just as do birds of today. Long before wings, the forelimbs of theropods evolved to allow them to reach forward to grasp prey with their claws. Those are the Maniraptors. That movement is exactly the same as that required for flapping wings. Archaeopteryx still had those grasping claws as did other early birds. The young chicks of the Hoatzin still retain them. Claws are also evident on many bird species; Emus, Cassowarys and Kiwis still have them on vestigial wings. Feathers and scales are formed from the same material, keratin. Birds retain scales on their legs; the Japanese Silkie chicken has been bred for fully feathered legs, indicating that only slight genetic modification is necessary. Take a look at an Emu; its legs are exactly what would be expected on a dinosaur. It too, has a useless nub of a wing with an equally useless claw. Vestigial remnants are always confusing to creationists. There is a succession of feathered dinosaur fossils with increasingly bird like characteristics i.e. Xiaotingia, Sinosauropteryx prima, Caudipteryx, Sinovenator and others. Any of these fossils showing such a mix of traits can be considered transitional. The whole lineage of feathered dinosaurs could be considered transitional. The fossil record even shows the stages of feather evolution from simple spikes to down to contour feathers and ultimately to quilled flight feathers. Today we have lots of feathered dinosaur fossils; so many feathered theropod fossils in fact, that most paleontologists now think ALL theropods were probably feathered. There were dinosaurs with wings that couldn't possibly fly, like 5 foot 40 pound Zhenyuanlong suni. There were a great many almost-birds and not-quite-birds, until about 150 million years ago, birds ultimately took flight. Birds or almost birds like Auronis, Archaeopteryx, Shenzhouraptor, Rahonavis, Yandangornis Jixiangornis, Sapeornis, Omnivoropteryx, Confuciusornis and Changchengornis retain some dinosaur-like features such as teeth and long bony tails. Evolution is NOT a linear process. Many of these species lived at the same time, displaying a matrix of characteristics. Evolution is a natural experiment. Some things work and get perpetuated, others may enjoy brief success before extinction. Any organism that can exploit a new environment or food source has an evolutionary advantage.When birds took to the air it vastly expanded their ability to move through and into new environments and rapid diversification followed. With the demise of the dinosaurs, many environmental niches were opened to mammals and birds and again, rapid diversification followed in both groups. With so many transitional fossils displaying both bird-like and dinosaur-like features, there is an almost seamless transition from dinosaur to bird (as well as a great number of dead end evolutionary experiments) and it is often difficult to separate the two. Doing so requires statistical analysis of nearly 1000 inherited and derived characteristics. Lest you think of evolution as being a linear process, feathered non-avian dinosaurs continued to pursue differing evolutionary paths. About 25 million years after the origin of birds saw new evolutionary experiments in Microraptors, four winged dromeosaurs with pinnaceous flight feathers on both arms and legs that were capable of gliding and possibly powered flight as well. Their fossils indicate that for a while at least, they were quite successful. There are some 300 of these fossil 'experiments' in museum collections around the world.

[@Scroteydada]

So would a lot of those gaps in found fossils be rapid periods of evolution? And I like how some creationists will say that God implemented vestigial organs to test faith, but then others say it was the devil creating a lie against *insert deity*.

[@predatoreusfilms9992]

Bruh

[@blowfishes]

You have a great voice so don't waste it with basic recording equipment. Sometimes your voice is overblown and sometimes echoes. Also balance out the volume. Great content and an interesting watch even for those of us who were aware of much of your subject matter. Good job guys!

[@tls7642]

What are you advertising recording equipment?!

[@notmrflimflam38notrealflam90]

@TLS⚡ he specifically said "Don't waste it with basic recording equipment"

[@timoconnell2206]

AAaah -- love the blooper reel!

[@williamjordan8603]

It is theorized that only beaked birds survived the great extinction due to the advantages in feeding on seeds, practically the only food source left on land.

[@benjammin8184]

So good to hear proper accents, haha. Even though your audio capturing and white balancing leaves much to be desired you still manage to be informative and concise. Good stuff. Oh, I see now! Well done students! Top tip: get the media students to get you set up and test equipment before shots :)

[@einar_476]

Thanks, I watched a video about parots and got to wondering about when beaks evolved and found exactly what I was looking.

[@cowsauce9099]

Amazing. Exactly the video I was looking for!

[@josueabarca1913]

Thanks!

[@lilitheden748]

Clearly explained ! Thankx

[@FOVOutdoors]

1:35 "Such as the well-known Triceratops." Holds up toy styracosaurus. Still enjoyed listening to her.

[@PkmnRayhak]

Pretty interesting, I love birds.

[@paulbags123]

Fascinating video full of thought provoking information/facts 👍

[@mentino1556]

Thank you it was really informative and answered all the questions I had, whilst only being 8 minutes long.

[@dSantacruz23b]

Thanks for this blessing !

[@xenoidaltu601]

A DIY documentary, cool! =)

[@tricanico]

Xeno Idaltu it seems like a video for college hahaha (it's cutely unprofessional)

[@yeeeha4551]

Great video, interesting topic love it! 😉

[@pikachu8925]

This would be so successful if you were to go full proffessional on this, get like hidden small microphone recorders so there's no echo, no outside disturbance interfering with the speech because in a documentary, what you say is going to be of most value. As for the footage it's not bad, but if you could get many different angles with high quality it would be nice. All of these would cost very small in comparison to the change they would bring. Good luck with your channel i can see a lot of potential in it.

[@PamIsley314]

Awesome video! That's crazy that birds still have the gene for teeth but it's deactivated

[@siyamkelael7269]

Love this

[@shawnsalem5627]

1:37 more like the well known styracosaurus

[@topgears7775]

Good job kids!

[@Antuan444]

From dinosaur to dinosaur.

[@ThatOneGuy46696]

4:44 So the question is... Why did they use a Spinosaurus Skull to illustrate the specialization of the beak?

[@An_excellent_YouTube_account]

Erndem Sterff Prederctions probably because the spinosaurs had a long snout so it's easier to see the premaxilla, maxilla and the dentary yes it would have made more sense to use a different dinosaur like the velociraptor.

[@terrasoars5006]

Beaks have evolved multiple times in vertebrates, not just in hadrosaurs and early birds but also mammals - so the genes that that allow a beak to evolve are not unique among higher vertebrates. Secondly, the most closely-linked Mesozoic bird types that tie to today's Neornithine birds ALL HAD TEETH - namely Ichthyornis and Hesperornis. While beaks may have evolved in other theropod and indeed in other early bird lines (some Enantiornithines), teeth persisted in the bird lines that are in the same ancient clade as neornithines. So why would such neornithine ancestors lose teeth? That piece of the puzzle seems tied to the K-T extinction event, probably because filter-feeders with beaks proliferated over toothed forms that relied on sizable food sources (the Deccan basalt flows decimated the latest Cretaceous landscapes). Lastly, consider this: for all the predatory and carnivoran meat- and fish-eating strategies of Cenozoic birds, they NEVER EVOLVE TEETH AGAIN! Oh they try - as illustrated by the pronged beaks of the Pelagathornids, but even today's eagles and falcons have had to remain content with their modified beaks and claws when it comes to obtaining fresh meat. The loss of teeth and their associated genes in neornithine birds is apparently irreversible. So much for those projects that are seeking to "re-evolve" dinosaurs from birds.

[@markgilbertarevalo2703]

At first too, i can't believe that Lugia is a bird pokemon. Hahaha.

[@stephenleblanc4677]

Well done, though I did not hear you mention that weight reduction is a likely factor driving the loss of teeth.

[@w41duvernay]

I would still like to know if a parrot is a dinosaur or if it is NOT what is it related to?

[@theBeasman333]

The "birds" are a sub-class of "dinosaurs" The same way "dogs" are a subclass of "mammals" So yes, parrots are dinosaurs.

[@GazBC4U]

​@@theBeasman333 Sub-dinosaur

[@gsun11]

I used to study Guinea pigs....Until I got addicted to WHEEK... (now i typed it...) WHEEK WHEEKWHEEK WHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEKWHEEK

[@fermentedbread2595]

5:27 nice

[@peeblekitty5780]

7:18 *wind in ear intensifies*

[@notlegalinvestigations9055]

I would have think because of how they eat. Its show that teeth change do the food they eat.

[@miaad84]

How do you then explain modern birds that have teeth?

[@redemption2021]

Modern birds do not have teeth. Some may have teeth-like structures but they lack enamel. My understanding is that they are called tomia and are serrated edges of the birds beak in various degrees.

[@RandallWilks]

Archaeopteryx and early birds retained some dinosaur characteristics such as teeth, claws and a long bony tail. Modern birds have, for the most part, lost those characteristics, but teeth and long til bones are present in embryo early stages, being absorbed in later development. However, there are several birds that retain vestigial claws. The chicks of the Hoatzin use claws to clamber through branches, ultimately losing them. Emus, Cassowarys and kiwis have vestigial claws at the ends of vestigial wings

[@shawnwales696]

jummon koshai Same reason some human babies are born with lenuga (fine fur), some people have active muscles that can allow them to move their ears, some have cysts in the neck derived from gill archs and some people are born with tails. These are vestigial traits that occasionally are expressed, as are teeth in otherwise beaked birds, and hind limbs occasionally seen in whales.

[@templarknight9888]

From Jawa to beak Frow hands to wings 😁🙏. Thanks Charles Darwin the father of evolution... Mm

[@mohamedflawless5890]

1:15 so basically birds are dinosaurs hippsters

[@templarknight9888]

From Jawa to beak Frow hands to wings 😁🙏. Thanks Charles Darwin the father of evolution...

[@opaquedroplets9402]

Devolution of the freak

[@sandro5535]

As of late 2017 the Theropoda/birds were moved over to birdhip.

[@xX_wiLLiam_Xx]

H Birds are dinosaurs

[@mikeygordon4906]

All birds have the different way of flying and movement from the birds position itself.

[@mikeygordon4906]

Flamingo have the wings that are able to flying smoothly in the great distances on water.Flamingo is the part of the greatest evolution of birds the descendants of the dinosaurs.

[@mikeygordon4906]

Archaeopteryx and microraptor the first theropod dinosaur that are able to gliding from the trees to trees.This is the earliest success of evolution journey to the birds in the changes of time.

[@mikeygordon4906]

Penguins are the birds of the ocean today.It is the greatest evolution success for the birds species.The greatest evolution ever to me is the evolution of birds.

[@mikeygordon4906]

Penguins don't need flying on air to flying under ocean by flapping its wings with waterproof feather capabilities.This is the remarkable of evolution of life for the penguin survival.

[@mikeygordon4906]

Utahraptor and deinonychus have the amazing sickle curved claws for catching and jumping into the big prey before killing the prey into the death with eating it alive.Utahraptor and deinonychus are the closest relative to the birds.

[@jacksont9455]

Speaking of evolution, I feel like the American accent evolved from the accent of wherever these people are from

[@BestTimes8812]

Jackson T This is an Irish accent i'm pretty sure. Americans, not counting natives, came from Europe and on top of that many Irish travelled to America because of the famine

[@christopherparks4342]

gog 1284 the irish?

[@christopherparks4342]

gog 1284 well a lot of us came from ireland so....

[@BestTimes8812]

gog 1284 haha wow prejudice much?

[@christopherparks4342]

gog 1284 what an ironic comment on an irish video about evolution

[@williamjordan8603]

Did she say beaks replaced mouths?

[@rahulmathew8713]

Yes and scientist was able to reverse this process and make mouth based bird. Search the ted talk video by Jack Honor Chickenosaurus.

[@MrJonnyPepper]

Didn't some therapsids have beaks

[@reasonableapistevist6273]

jonny pepperston They were bony tho.

[@AlexOjideagu2]

Good to hear Irish people who accept Evolution and don't accept religious Dogma

[@XimenQing]

Only in american christians still believe in cretionism

[@candiduscorvus]

Trust me, it's more widespread than that. Try Italy sometime.

[@HustleWorldEnt1]

I'll give them credit for making this video but it has poor audio quality

[@euproductions8615]

Everyone else who know everything from school Me who grew up with the Internet (youtube) (google)

[@Abseul]

Work on the sound mixing

[@gatecharb8384]

Birds are indeed reptiles.

[@user_name_redacted]

I thought birds evolved from Archosaurs, similar to crocodiles and alligators?

[@user_name_redacted]

Christ, no wonder i got confused

[@anthonypolonkay2681]

You weren't confused. There are a number of competing theories of the evolution of flight. Because contrary to what is commonly present to lay audiences, it is not well understood, or capitulated by the fossil record at all. One of the main reasons for the archosaurian hypothesis is because of the very backwards presentation of the fossils as found in strata. The earliest examples like microraptor, and archeoptryx are also the most advanced until you reach full fledged flight birds. Going up in strata in-between those two shows what would be a reduction in flight ability compared to those two. And then suddenly modern full fledged flight birds appear along side these. Now the standard rebutted to this is to rely in the supposed branching paths of evolution. But that is a very post hoc explaination that doesn't undo the lack of predecessor forms before archeoptryx. And what's more there are contentious fossils of full fledged birds from carbonifourous strata. Far far before archeoptryx. These finds are contended against soley because of the wrench it throws in the evolution. And to my knowledge the only attempted explaination for how birds can be found in carbinifourous strata is to claim the strata isn't carbonifourous but that a bird died inside a gourge that was deep enough to be at the level of carbonifourous strata, and was buried and fossilized there. This is a reasonable theory to present, but I have also noticed that nobody has made the effort to prove or falsify it. There seems to be no testing done on the strata these carbonifourous birds are found in to see if it is different from the carbonifourous strata around it. The community at large seems perfectly content to accept the gourge theory without further investigation as it solves any problems the fossils present. They don't want to look a gift horse jn the mouth as it were.

[@robinsonray6766]

birds are def not the most diverse group of vertebrates today, fish are bar none, birds are only on land

[@karlmarx9877]

Scientific video starts out with music from the least most scientific movie ever about dinosaurs anyway

[@MrEuller88]

Camron Williams yeah, the movie was inaccurate, but dang, it had such a good soundtrack.

[@venusmcgraw3553]

0:38 omg birds flew onto water Jesus birds comfirmed 🐦

[@jivejunior8753]

Could you please list your sources more clearly? It helps you look more professional, and without them, you could just be making all this up.

[@TroodonJesus156]

its weird that most bird like dinosaurs like microraptor were found in china. i guess everything is made there lol

[@n.b.5250]

Not only micro-chips, but also micro-raptors

[@yuvanraj2271]

Ryan Lopez It's a pretty big area and it's not long before there were some cases of people stealing the bones to make soups. Now more effort is being put.

[@jaschabull2365]

Stands to reason, really, the country is shaped like a big chicken.

[@Pinkie007]

While this was good and educational, it still gave me PTSD bringing me right back to school assignments…

[@TahoeJones]

Terrible audio. That combined with a fast talking accent (Irish?) makes it very unintelligible.

[@Idaastrand]

I'm not a native english speaker but I understood everything perfectly ^^ since it's not a professional production I'm not gonna blame them for not wanting to cash out on a real mic. I do youtube myself (not this account) and even though I'm earning some money from it I'm still hesitant to pour money into equipment I'll have no use for if I decide to quit :) this looked like a school project/something done for fun so I wouldn't be too harsh on the equipment and focus more on what information is being shared :)

[@stevenschiff9160]

I agree, especially the scenes in the museum, wherein the echo makes it nearly impossible to hear and understand her.

[@christopherparks4342]

Irish accent is hard for you? They articulate very clearly. Out of curiosity, are you American?

[@Scroteydada]

I might have to diagnose you with Americanism

[@christopherparks4342]

Harry Willmore we actually have subtitles when a character speaks with a scottish or irish accent sometimes. It is embarrassing to me, frankly.

[@Enzedo]

Please slow down and annunciate your words clearly. Many older (

[@jan_kisan]

it's called evolution, mate. of language, in this case. it is normal and inevitable, so you'd better get used to it quicker, sorry.

[@spider-insider7981]

Just turn down the speed

[@MarcelNL]

43 years old here and I also have trouble with the speed she reads things off te screen or whatever it is. It's too fast and too unnatural sounding.

[@IFledFromKansas]

Just use subtitles. Thats what they're there for.

[@christopherparks4342]

"I had to give a thumbs down because i'm too stupid to understand an irish accent"

[@megag52]

oh god this was boring. didnt learn anything cos i feel asleep. sorry guy gotta dislike

[@templarknight9888]

From Jawa to beak Frow hands to wings 😁🙏. Thanks Charles Darwin the father of evolution...

[@templarknight9888]

From Jawa to beak Frow hands to wings 😁🙏. Thanks Charles Darwin the father of evolution...