national aviary >> bird or dinosaur?

That's not it!

Birds, bats, and bugs all can
fly, as well as this butterfly.

Roll across below to find out more

BECOMING A BIRD
Reptiles have some traits, birds have others. Sort them out to discover how birds evolved from dinosaurs.

THE BIG DEAL: THE FEATHER
It's what makes a bird a bird. It's perfect for flying, is great for keeping warm, and comes in so many colors and patterns. Maybe the most amazing thing about feathers is that they're made out of the same stuff as your toenails.

DEAD OR ALIVE
Dinosaurs are all extinct. So is the dodo. Meet some of the birds that only exist as fossils or stuffed specimens.

ARE BIRDS DINOSAURS?
Scientists keep on discovering more about the first birds. That hasn't made it any easier for them to agree on the differences between birds and dinosaurs. Debate this topic with your class.

Yes!

The archaeopteryx was a bird
simply because it had feathers. It is
the missing link between birds and dinosaurs as it also had teeth.

Nope!

Along with birds, reptiles and
fish lay eggs.

Rollover any of the statements to
the left to find out if they qualify
what makes a bird unique.

The Archaeopteryx fossil above dates from 150 million years ago

The first humans emerged half a million years ago.

When archaeopteryx was discovered many scientists considered it a "missing link" between dinos and birds. But recent discoveries of dinosaurs with feathers suggest a much more complicated picture.

People and dinosaurs never lived at the same time. Of course, we may now be sharing the planet with modern dinosaurs– the birds.

65 million years ago
dinosaurs became extinct.

65 million years ago there was a huge mass extinction, possibly caused by an asteroid hitting the earth. Dinosaurs did not survive, but the ancestors of birds and people did.