Microraptor and the Very Bird Like Dinosaurs

Microraptor was a dinosaur that blurs the line between dinosaurs and birds with its plumage hollow bones and flight feathers. However there is more to this creature than just this because they also may reveal new things about the evolution of dinosaur to bird. Specifically that many dinosaurs like raptors may actually be birds but evolved back towards flightlessness like an ostrich.
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Sources:
www.nature.com/articles/ncomm...
science.sciencemag.org/conten...
www.pnas.org/content/107/2/766
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleobi...

[@Boom-hw8ku]

The tooth study on Sinornithosaurus does not share any characteristics of other Sinornithosaurus specimens, so it has been sadly ruled out, very interesting concept however

[@theomnissiah-9120]

It could have had a septic bite though

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

@@theomnissiah-9120 To slow kill for such a animal.

[@Kasmodamous]

A venomous dinosaur sounds like something that would be in jurrasic park

[@CoffeeBeaversEditz]

Maybe babys don't have venom

[@CoffeeBeaversEditz]

But adults do so they take down bigger pret

[@kmolnardaniel]

It would be cool if you would do a video about the history of birds. I never totally understood how they evolved, what was their oldest relatives.

[@1ntense796]

I don't think paleontologists do either. From what I understand there are still a bunch of missing links in the fossil record.

[@ishrendon6435]

No one knows yet

[@terdragontra8900]

Microraptor is definitely my favorite dinosaur, I want a pet one that will perch on my shoulder

[@FloozieOne]

I discovered your site by accident the day before yesterday while looking up some stuff about dinosaurs and have been glued to it since. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that you covered many other species as well. I think I have spent about 30 of the last 36 hours here! The presentations are so interesting and complete and the number of species is phenomenal. You have gotten yourself a new Patreon. Even though I can't put a large amount every month I am doing what I can and maybe - if I ever get back to work! - I'll be able to do more. Thanks again.

[@altaccount9903]

But wasn't venomous sinornithosaurus hypothesis has been disproven??

[@AngelaCadle]

idk

[@alioramus1637]

Yes i't was

[@batspidey7611]

I have a comment about that.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Imagine forests full of trees full of 'rodents', mostly safe from the ground. The appearing of small gliding and flying predators must have been a big change.

[@stlo0309]

Is your profession related to these subjects or its just a hobby? Great video as always!

[@yerokaasregor]

If he was a teacher, I would want to go back to school just to be in his class😅

[@Hat-]

YerokA ASregor Same

[@JohnJohansen2]

Spare time investigation can really be enough. If you're dedicated and really spend the time, for several years. I know, though not from paleontology. You should try. 🙂

[@derelbenkoenig]

Well they do have a patreon that they mention, so they at least make some money from these videos

[@user-uu1nw1bl9j]

I think he is either studying paleontology or has a profession in it, since in that case he has uni to give him access to all these papers.

[@ryo0ka936]

Bird evolution is my favorite topic. Thanks for the video :) I especially enjoy the theory that their flight capability stemmed from “running up a tree”, for juveniles to escape to the high ground from predators. I sometimes sleep thinking about it.

[@andycharliecovers]

You should do an episode about Hoatzins, the closest bird to a dinosaur alive today

[@foxhound963]

I skeptically looked that up and holy shit what an amazing animal. A bird with f-ing fingers!

[@maxgosselin62]

I mean, in terms of appearance and presence of fingers, you could argue that, but they certainly aren't the most closely related

[@Dragrath1]

@@maxgosselin62 Yeah the Hoatzin is a member of the Neoaves the same group of KPg survivors which diversified into nearly every living bird group including songbirds parrots, terrorbirds, falcons, penguins, swifts, hummingbirds, accipiters(hawks and eagles) and owls among many others. I think it has been argued however according to fossils and genetics that they might be the most basal or first to have diverged among the neoaves not long after the Kpg extinction so it might mean that the ancestor of all neoavian birds had functional claws. Of course the neoaves like surviving placental mammal groups underwent a rapid radiation into a wide array of body forms and shapes so it is hard to say what exactly they looked like but presumably the features possessed by those survivors descendants would have had some representative presence. What is particularly interesting to me is that the Neoaves appear to be the only group among the 3 surviving lineages of birds that underwent this kind of explosive diversification of forms and niches the other two groups the Galloanserae or fowl birds basically stuck to their same ecological niche as before the K-Pg extinction while the last group the Paleognathae with a few exceptions seems to have gone on to evolve into large flightless birds. Basically why did only one major group of birds experience this rapid radiation? was it something to do with them likely being a generalist versus a lucky specialist? Or may it have been that the Neoaves were just first to diversify outcompeting any of the other bird groups attempting to fill new niches?

[@JellyAntz]

*enter cassowary*

[@ratreptile]

You should all look at videos of road runners. Those things are micro raptors.

[@leoornstein3963]

This video is great, I have never known that the raptors family envolve backward from normal depiction, you have never ceased to amaze me.

[@Sawrattan]

It reminds me of axolotls which seem to have evolved backwards from normal amphibians to fully aquatic amphibians.

[@pierre-samuelroux9364]

What do you mean backwards??If microraptor did then it would be terrestrial

[@pierre-samuelroux9364]

We can't evolve backwards btw only adapt and change

[@leoornstein3963]

@@pierre-samuelroux9364 I am sorry, my word choices were poor. What I meant was I thought the dromaeosaurid evolved from small, mainly terrestrial ancestors then evolved power flight later on and not from fight-capable ancestors then to become mainly terrestrial animals later on in their evolution.

[@pierre-samuelroux9364]

@@leoornstein3963 and not all dormaeosaurids flied only microraptor did

[@undertyped1]

These ark mmo guides of your's have been great, but i'd love more info on the microraptors hp and dps.

[@ferro9926]

Both stats are low, however, their speed is unrivaled as it scales exponentially with each point you put into speed, just don't go over 400% as it'll voom out of render distance

[@tnapeepeelu]

Tier Zoo is a good one, he will tell all about the stats of tuese,

[@zs9652]

It is hilarious that one of your supporters goes by the name of Ken Ham lol.

[@GreysToons]

Never heard of Mahakala before, Nobu Tamura’s reconstruction is adorable! Wonderful video, as usual.

[@turkoositerapsidi]

Mahakala, the name is so funny. I just laughed in my mind. Im not anglo, in my language that is hilarious.

[@bidishadey3815]

TurkoosiTerapsidi I am not sure if the name comes from Sanskrit or not, but if it is, it means deep time, or great time, eternity. Edit: Just checked, it does come from Sanskrit.

[@joakos1122]

I think the enlarged flight muscles would have been used for wing assisted incline running up trees instead of flapping flight

[@Dragrath1]

possibly though remember that its body isn't really well adapted for running as the foot wings would interfere with their ability to run so I don't think this is all that likely though it can't be ruled out Also from what I have read while many species of microraptors fail to meet flight thresholds many members of the microraptor group particularly later ones seem to have developed more well defined muscles analogous to birds flight muscles with wing loading and muscle strengths well in the range to support powered flight. In fact I remember reading about comparative analysis studies and modeling suggesting powered flight evolved at least 2 or 3 separate times among the feathered dinosaurs. So it seems probable based off more recent research that flight did arise within the microraptor line but it did so *independently* of birds. There are a number of ancestral shared characteristics that probably predisposed the evolution of flight in the larger clade and incline running seems a pretty good possibility for one of these adaptations so I don't think these are mutually exclusive ideas. evolutionarily separately experiment

[@roddo1955]

No you don't. You read that on the wiki of avian dinosaurs and the evolution of flight

[@pierre-samuelroux9364]

​@@roddo1955he cans think what he wants bruh

[@Stratigic_Cheese_Reserve]

I love that one of your Patreon Supporters chose the sobriquet Ken Ham.

[@FA-ft9sq]

I thought most paleontologist nowadays don't distinguish between dinosaurs and birds anymore. Birds, and even modern ones, are dinosaurs. Aves are just the more derived form of dinosaurs.

[@imperatorchadicvsmaximvs7141]

your correct, birds are considered part of dinosauria

[@redshurikenrlsh1951]

All birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs are birds.

[@tunafishnow9042]

Imagine if trex was capable of flying, a terrifying thought

[@ratreptile]

@@tunafishnow9042 That would be a real life dragon but without the fire breathing.

[@andrew7955]

Yeah they don't, but the debate is now around where exactly they fit into the phylogenetic tree of dinosauria

[@jannish.2807]

I am honestly surprised that I did not stumble on your channel sooner. The information presented is amazing and even when I think that I have a somewhat good overview of a topic, I still learn so much more that just makes my jaw drop. Truly amazing videos!

[@OfAllThingzFooty]

Love your content brother. Hope this channel grows bigger and bigger. Keep em coming!

[@williamst.romain7393]

I'm assuming the 'Ken Ham' of your patrons is using his name as a joke.

[@brainmind4070]

William St.Romain Well, religious people can be all kinds of twisted, so neither possibility would surprise me.

[@vaszgul736]

I know I also did a complete 180 when I heard ken ham

[@arturoverde3807]

William St.Romain l have wondered on that prospect too..🇪🇸

[@FossilF]

I would assume so. Or just another guy of the same name.

[@eVill420]

@@brainmind4070 all kinds of people are twisted.

[@Leatherargento]

Oh, cool! I always wondered whether the shine or gleam or refraction of light of these guys' feathers was just made up for the artists' renditions. I love that they really were evidenceably iridescent!

[@mondriaa]

wait Ken Ham, that is weird or some nice trolling there by who ever is behind it

[@nathanvanpelt7216]

lol, was thinking the same thing! this comment should be #1. must be trolling 😂

[@Pssybart]

Haha, those are my thoughts. Must be another Ken Ham. Wouldn't it be funny if he actually had a Patron named Jesus Christ?

[@planescaped]

He needs a Kirk Cameron patron.

[@Vicariously...I]

I would love a shirt with the new, neon red "Mothlight" logo on it, maybe a small one on the front and a big one on the back. A black or charcoal gray shirt with that on it would be sick.

[@arthurdent6828]

Ahh, good old Ken Ham. The man with the intelligence of a Ham Sandwich..

[@potaterjim]

I had no idea who he was until today Somewhere out there is a literal themepark to backwards thinking That's sad

[@grantbartley483]

You ought to make a distinction between people being unintelligent and people being wrong. I think Ken Ham is very intelligent. I also think he's wrong,

[@arturoverde3807]

Arthur Dent no no no...he’s not that clever ! 🇪🇸

[@nickzaytz5712]

@@grantbartley483 weird statement - intelligent person learn and read and have at least common sense - this idiot didn't just have wrong complex scientific calculations, he read the piece of literature, about fictional events, written by people, and thinks it was real!) U don't need science to know that Hogwarts and Mordor are not real...

[@grantbartley483]

@@nickzaytz5712 What's hogwarts got to do with anything? If you jump to bad analogies to make bad arguments that too is unintelligent. Guess what I think of you.

[@ArtificialMayo]

Wow! I can't believe birds developed so early in time. I wonder when they developed song!

[@serpentinewolf7085]

I recommend looking up what velociraptors and tyrannosaurus sounded like. They didn’t actually have voice boxes so the new depictions of the noises they made are terrifying.

[@TheRaoulsdaddy]

Seems song was developed in Australian birds first.

[@bestversion8159]

Another stellar video. Thanks man!

[@--Paws--]

The small teeth in the front of sinothosaurus' mouth may have been used for grooming similar to, ironically, mammals that have similar smaller incisors used for the same purpose. Cats or even lorises have these small teeth that comb their fur. The bigger teeth may have been equivalent to canines, again, similar to mammals that have similar arranged teeth.

[@ronanm4418]

Great video, beautifully produced

[@temujin5743]

How did'nt I discovered you before, your videos are amazing!

[@ariochiv]

The concept of raptors descending from flighted/gliding ancestors certainly makes sense; otherwise, the winglike arms are somewhat difficult to explain.

[@richardblazer8070]

Wings can also be used for steering while running, this is commonly seen in ostriches. It also allows them to insulate their nest more efficiently.

[@archive2500]

The only thing that is difficult to explain for me is choosing whether it is for gliding, warming eggs during incubation, steering while running, or the most obvious, courtship display or combination of any of the four.

[@thomascorbett2936]

Very interesting, a lot of information .

[@glenngilbert7389]

Excellent as usual

[@Hihelloto]

YES

[@luisvalentin361]

Amazing video, very interesting

[@Theincredibledrummer]

That's a nice looking Lucarino

[@Jobe-13]

Very fascinating

[@gav1230]

You should make a video on the dinosaurs which have been discovered to have bat like wings :)

[@pumpernickelplace]

Lol glad to see Ken Ham has changed his ways ;) 🙃 I do kinda miss the fantasy of humans and dinosaurs living together from the creationism books of my indoctrinated youth

[@Ginjitzu]

May never have happened in the past, but with genetic engineering, it may yet happen in the future. Let's hope future _gene zoos_ have better safety management than Dr John Hammond though.

[@hyuggie]

you make great videos. i'll gladly subscribe

[@alexanderwiggin846]

Birds are dinosaurs

[@turkoositerapsidi]

Yes, but also yes.

[@vassa1972]

Very cool

[@vassa1972]

Cool stuff

[@IICJZII]

The videos on this channel just keep getting better. I had a quick question though. I seem to remember reading about that some feather pigmentation studies were actually incorrect or at least inconclusive. Unfortunately can't remember the paper. Is it known for certain that microraptors feathers were in fact black?

[@alioramus1637]

My favorite microraptorian is hesperonychus.

[@theomnissiah-9120]

Is it just me or are the microraptors adorable

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

Second, Super Cool! I really like your Vids.

[@presidenttogekiss635]

The image of the Feathered winged dino eating an animal that looks like a modern canary is very striking to me, because it looks so anachronistic, even if I know it's true.

[@robertgotschall1246]

I wonder if the leg feathers might not have been used to make up for their lack of tail feathers like in modern birds. I'd think the boney tail would have stabilized them whether gliding or flying but would have restricted agility.

[@fnglert]

Would love to have one of these as pet.

[@crimsonwings4542]

A supporter named Ken Ham?? Surely a prank.

[@sophiagnetneva6861]

flying creatures are amazing

[@JoeJoeTheCapybara]

Awesome video! Venomous Bird Dinos for the win!

[@altaccount9903]

Although it has been disproven.

[@csweezey18]

8:44 Wait, Ken Ham? Isn't he a young-Earth creationist? I'm very confused...

[@greensteve9307]

You don't think it's more likely that there is more than one person named Ken Ham?

[@csweezey18]

@@greensteve9307 If anyone else was named Ken Ham, they'd probably change their name immediately to avoid being associated with Ken Ham.

[@darth856]

I'm assuming that the patron in question is using his name as a joke

[@xoxb2]

Not everybody is American. Here in the UK, where this video guy is from, we neither know nor care who this Ham person is. It appears to be religious, which again we don't really do, so neither are we freaked out by people who are into it, if you see what I mean!

[@csweezey18]

@@xoxb2 ok brit

[@sampagano205]

I dislike how controversial the "Dromaeosaurs are flightless birds" hypothesis is, because even though the BAND crowd gloms onto this, it doesn't help their case and it is itself not really that big of a change from the current taxonomy.

[@Knifeys]

to do a full 'jurassic park' on any, absoloutly any, ancient animal would be amazing lol

[@thevenbede767]

Ken Ham!? As in the ark guy!?

[@turkoositerapsidi]

Yes, but also no.

[@ericlipton7640]

That was my concern as well. Eeewwww

[@theurbangoose9962]

Micro raptor, the 4 winged crow

[@thesarkive7746]

that was an interesting ending

[@AnkanBob]

4:13 when you hit the shrooms too hard

[@1567stardust]

🤩 what a beautiful Dino

[@treverelliott1124]

Would it hop around like other birds when their on the ground?

[@Quazex]

I'm a microraptor therian so I think this video is poggers

[@christopheb9221]

i thought i saw something were on NOVA that microraptor held its legs vertical cuz they did a model test that it wouldnt glide well if its legs were bent horizontal.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

I love how we can reconstruct details of the life of long gone species by logical deduction. Of course, nothing is written in stone... Lol. But some things _are_ written in stone indeed.

[@WondrousEarth]

Thank you for this excellent and fascinating video. I would like to share it with a friend who does not have English as her primary language, would you please provide Subtitles, if possible.

[@pw6447]

Venomous birds. Feathered servant indeed.

[@elielizondo9369]

As an ark player I can confirm that we say FFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK when a microraptor stuns us an a alpha rex is behind our raptor

[@matthewbrown8679]

I find it hard to imagine that they took on the handicap of leg-wings without getting powered flight out of it.

[@Flufux]

Didn't these videos used to have music?

[@SharksandDinos]

They did.

[@Sawrattan]

Love when different offshoots co-exist (don't know the scientific term)... like ape-men and homo sapiens... modern cats and sabre-tooth cats... birds and bird-like dinosaurs.

[@LBerti96]

haha amazing that one of your supporters called themselves Ken Ham xD What a savage

[@Iowa599]

If the bones were hollow, were they really hollow & there a vacuum it them?

[@f.u.m.o.5669]

I doubt that Mahakala is that basal, It's also sometime considered a Halszkaraptorid.

[@randomevotimes7784]

I’m a microraptor!

[@turkoositerapsidi]

Good for yu mate.

[@cursedalien]

If dromaeosaurs really were just weird birds, then the comparison between them and extant birds of prey would be even more applicable than it already is.

[@user-lf2ui7mn1f]

Birds are also dinosaurs, dude.

[@naufallin907]

The dude don't get the point.... 😂😂

[@hiiiii5_405]

6:30 naruto run

[@RealHypocrisy]

Ken Ham, the creationist contributed to your patreon? intruiging.

[@seed.visuals]

4:47 - floppa

[@fairweathertrains3029]

Ark players seeing the title of this video: **REEEEEEEEEE**

[@ice9snowflake187]

a biplane bird

[@turkoositerapsidi]

Ö birdplane?

[@flightlesslord2688]

I approve of raptors being giant beast birds

[@vipertwenty249]

The possibly venom injecting teeth could have slipped out of their sockets if there was an adaptation to reduce the likelihood of damage during injection - a built in degree of flexibility and/or the venom glands - or even particularly nasty bacteria (as in the Komodo Dragon) eating away at the socket for a short period after death. Whilst the idea that it may have been venomous may indeed be wrong - just assuming it to be wrong because the teeth have slipped out after death seems a bigger sweeping assumption than considering reasons _why_ the teeth seem to have a tendancy to go adrift after death.

[@brandyfuller2455]

Every time I hear you say Ken Ham I have to do a double take lol

[@Francois2144]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I enjoyed it. China has so much secrets with its diversity of strange dinosaur life unlike anywhere else in the world. China is known as a hotspot country for paleontologists, becoz so many weird and wonders have been discovered there.

[@caljdp860]

Ark players thinking they know everything about dinosaurs like the micro raptor watching this video 👁👄👁

[@odotus]

Oh i hate that things, back there they like to hope on you an stun u out of ur triceratops or pteranodon, but u can tame it with rare flowers :3

[@therealpyromaniac4515]

First, also great video

[@suneaglemcneely]

They could fold their wings and dive like a hawk

[@ekszentrik]

I think we shouldn't make the definition of "bird" more complicated than it needs to be: Birds refers to the earliest bird (and all descendants) that had neither teeth nor a tail.

[@MacZephyrZ]

All birds have tails, they're just often shaped differently then in some of their dinosaur ancestors. There's also other complications, like how some early birds seem to have been born with teeth but lost them as they matured.

[@rickcharlespersonal]

When you read that KEN HAM is one of your supporters, I did a double take. XD

[@malapm7718]

My pigeon has feather's all over its leg even in its toes

[@kevinrhodes5497]

Can you make a video about the zhongjianosaurus

[@vassa1972]

Would have been a interesting time

[@user-uu7fe9wi2k]

Lmao one of the patrons is named Ken Ham, thats hilarious

[@nakulankurmullam2982]

Here before 100k

[@lilypadplatypus]

thank you to whoever signed up for Moth’s Patreon as Ken Ham 👌🏼😂

[@parmaxolotl]

My crackpot theory based on reading a bunch of articles and papers is that Microraptor was a ground dinosaur with limited flight capabilities, basically like a Cretaceous roadrunner. Roadrunners even have a black patch of feathers they use to heat up, and guess what color Microraptor was!

[@thefolder69]

except that microraptor would've been a poor runner. there's no reason for them to have been primarily ground-based, it's much more likely based on the evidence that they were tree-dwelling, where their countless gliding/flight adaptations would actually help them...

[@archive2500]

But lots of feather-like protrusions were found on its forearms similar to Archaeopteryx. Its forearms are also elongated and thin, does not look like it could be used as a strong weapon.

[@TheGurman8r]

more videos. c'mon chop chop. ;)

[@wandersgion4989]

Changyu Raptor sounds like a knockoff gaming keyboard.

[@richardzeitz54]

Thank you for all your hard work and excellent presentation! I've one criticism: when you describe microraptor and it's close relatives "... an evolutionary experiment ...," which I know you know isn't correct because evolution has no goals and is not directed. Obviously it's just a manner of speaking but because of the great deal of confusion re. evolution in some parts of society, it's best to avoid misleading language. Wow, I wish there were more KZbinrs about whom the worst I could say is please use more accurate language! I really enjoy your work!